A Blessing? Or a Battle?
by IzzyTheNinja
Summary: Suicidal twelve year old Jewel Johnson is reaped, along with her arch enemy. How will this Hunger Games take form?
1. To Voulenteer, or Not to Voulenteer

**I kept submitting this character to SYOT's. It was nice to see how they interpreted her, but now its my turn to show them her Hunger Games for real. This is the real version of the Hunger Games this tribute was in.**

**I don't know if she'll win. I might change the Point of Veiw later though, so you never know. So don't assume anything.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy it!**

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><p><span>Jewel POV<span>

The day of the Reaping. Great. That's just what I need. Another thing to worry about.

Maybe it wouldn't be something to worry about though... Maybe it's a blessing.

I mean, I could finally end my life like I've been trying to do, I just never had the courage to actually do it. Maybe this was the way to go. Where I had two options if I went into it. I could come out of it dead, and have no reason to worry anymore , or I could come home as the winner, and I would have some people talking to me, and I wouldn't be so alone anymore!

I guess I would volunteer, or should I...

I hate life. I get made fun of everyday. I hate school, I hate people who think they understand, and I hate my stupid 'purpose in life'.

I go to school each day just to learn a new nickname someone thought of for me.

The newest one was 'Suicide Girl'.

Apparently someone found me in the stream trying to drown myself last week.

How could the one thing I thought that would be good, and go well in my life, go wrong and then have someone turn it against me? Why is the world so cruel? Was my stupid purpose for life to be some form of entertainment for the lord

I wasn't even sure I believed there was such thing as a lord anymore. If there was, then why is he keeping me alive for this horror people call life! It's like I did something to offend him when I didn't know it and it was too long ago for me to remember. So then he decided to make my life miserable by sending down stupid Kathy.

I wondered what stupid Kathy would do to make my life miserable today. She tended to go out of her way to make my life miserable. Ever since that one fateful day.

Now, if you were able to look back in my mind, and see my memories of her, you'd think, 'what's so bad about her?'

Well, I'll tell you.

She's an evil, spoiled brat!

Now, I could go on and on with insults, as I once did to her, but I'm not going to.

You see, Kathy and I used to be friends.

We would hang out every weekend, and text each other everyday when we got home.

But one day, I finally realized the truth.

I saw the patterns. She was using me.

When she'd call, she'd say, "I'm bored, do you want to hang out?"

She totally ignored me while I was with her at school. Later, I learned she talked behind my back. Just like everyone else.

I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to believe any of it. But I had seen the signs, so instead, I gave her excuses. She can do that to me, because I'm not important. Over and over and over. Like a broken record.

Then, the last straw happened.

She harassed me using someone else's phone. So that they couldn't trace it back to her.

I called the police, and they did trace it to her eventually.

I couldn't deal with it. I cried for hours and hours and hours that night.

I finally came to the decision that, I couldn't be friends with her anymore.

I knew it would be hard to do. She had a way of manipulating people to do what she wanted, and she wanted to keep using me. But I couldn't do that anymore.

So when I finally told her the next day, after hours of preparation that night, hours of practice, hours of thought.

When I did tell her, something totally different changed inside her. Some kind of monster was unleashed. It was scary, but I kept with it.

I didn't know what I had gotten into when I first did it. I didn't know. I couldn't see the future.

I saw in her eyes, that she had promised herself, to make my life miserable. I could almost see the thoughts going through her head.

_If she isn't happy being my friend, then she can't be happy at all._

From then on, for about a year, she made connections. I didn't hear much from her for a while. I thought I'd gotten rid of her for good.

But one day, the people I sat with at lunch, the ones I thought might like me, started hanging out with her, started complimenting her, and eventually, she started sitting with us.

So I moved. I found another table. Then she did the same with them.

I couldn't win.

It reminded me of a war.

You stood your ground, then someone attacked. Then the weaker country retreated, and the stronger one gained land. Then it would play itself over and over until the other countries army all died.

It was the perfect analogy.

And that's just one thing she has done. You have no idea how much she has made me cry, how much many ugly poems I have written about her.

You see, I write extremely depressing poetry. It's not the kind of thing you would read to a child before bed. It's far from it. It's more one of those campfire scary stories you read before bed to freak everyone out.

I remembered one of them particularly well.

_Death_

_The man they call death,Likes to follow me tells others when,Their lives are over._

_He tells me sometimes,That my life is done.I believe him sometimes,Just every so often._

_But then I found out,He was only taunting was showing me all,Of what I couldn't have._

_Sometimes I pray,That he'll come find me he'll kill me,Once and for all._

_But I know that won't happen,The world is too is no escape,Without the man they call death._

Depressing huh? Yeah, I know. Trust me. I showed this to someone once. The person I told? Kathy. Another thing she could tell others to make them hate me.

So what was she going to do today?

That's when I remembered. It's reaping day.

So right now I have to go get into my only dress. The one that's plain white. Because our family can't afford anything better.

I grabbed my necklace. It wasn't going to be my district token though. My district token was my poetry notebook and a pencil. My necklace was simple. It had blue beads on it alternating light blue and dark blue, and hanging in the middle, was a single shell, that Chloe and I had found on the beach one day. It was one of the only happy memories I could remember.

I braided my hair just to get it out of the way. Who cares how it looks.

I grabbed my notebook that is always with me. Whether it's under my pillow, in my hands with the rest of my books, or on a table next to me, and I walked to the town square, the only place we could have enough space to put everyone.

I sat in the closest section, the 12 year old section.

I knew I had a huge chance of being picked because I took so much tessarae, but even if I wasn't maybe I should just volunteer. Then, I could be able to prove something to myself and to everyone else who didn't believe in me, and only thought I was the nerd no one cared about.

But what happens if I'm right? What happens if I am a nerd?

Oh wait, it won't matter because I'll be dead, and I won't have feelings anymore! Duh!

I was apparently really deep into my thoughts. The escort was walking over to the bowl with the girls names in it.

"I-" I started to say but was cut off.

"Jewel Johnson!" She said enthusiastically.

Well, I guess it didn't matter then.

I heard the intake of several breaths, the way it always goes when a twelve year old gets chosen.

I heard a specific voice say, "NO!" It was obviously my older sister Chloe.

My sister Chloe. Oh god. The popular girl. I'm not sure how she managed to remain popular once I got to third grade, when my life kind of died, but she did. So now, she's captain of the cheerleader squad, the most athletic girl I know, student of the year due to her grades, the head of the popular crowd, and all the teachers love her.

Such a huge contrast compared to me.

But honestly, this is the only time she has ever shown that she ever cared. Even a little.

Although, she probably just misheard the name and thought it was her.

Oh well, I knew I had to go up to the stands anyways, and that now, no one could stop me from being taken to the how to play it? I had gotten pretty good at masking my emotions and putting on the ones I'm supposed to have. I was actually happy that I was being condemned to death, but I put on a face of shock and sadness. Yea, a twelve year old girl would do that, wouldn't she?

I walked slowly up to the steps of the stage and I could hear the escort's foot tapping.

As I walked by Kathy, she gave me a smile of death, and I wondered if she had rigged it. But I figured the thought was proposterous and continued walking.

I knew that there was no way Chloe would take my spot, because no one volunteers here in district 11.

I eventually got up there and she (the escort) congratulated me. What was there to congratulate? 'Yay! You get to go kill people, and most likely be killed to!' What kind of congratulations would that be!

I could hear the murmurs coming from the crowd.

'That's Chloe's sister?'

'Heh. Looks like Suicide Girl's getting her wish.'

'At least no one important is being killed this year. Or at least so far.'

'Wait, but that girl's scrawny, blue eyed and looks like she's never eaten in her life. Chloe had brown eyes, and she's curvy. Something's wrong here… Maybe Jewel was adopted or something like that…'

She then pulled out the males name. "Kyle Throtingward!" She called with enthusiasm.

Where did I recognize that name from? Probably one of the ever-expanding list of people who made fun of me.

A boy from the sixteen year old section grumbled and walked up.

He towered over my short body of 5' 1", he had green eyes, while I had blue, and a deep dark black hair while I had dark blonde hair. He had huge muscle mass from all the days in the fields, while I was skin and bones, from days of climbing the highest trees because I was the only one light enough, and could get from tree to tree easily.

Then, when he was next to me, I remembered who he was. Kyle Throtingward, was the one person who had ever even tried to stand up for me. He was punished in his social status, but managed to gain it back pretty quickly.

He was the guy my sister talked about all day in her room. And wrote about all the time in her diary.

Call me evil, but yes, I did read her diary. I mostly read it for research. I could usually tell what was going on by watching. I was amazing at observing, but I'd double check it in Chloe's diary, to make sure I was right. Every so often she'd write about a couple who was together, or an upset in the crowds that I hadn't noticed. So this was my way of learning those things. Research. I mean, I really couldn't care less who she had a crush on, or who was the competition for her lead role of the top.

So I had, the heavily muscled, most popular guy in the district, against… This scrawny twelve year old, who was suicidal. Who do you think had a better chance at survival and sponsors?

You guessed it! The boy.

I was forced to shake hands with him and he gave me a warm smile while I shyly looked up at him through my fake tears.

I was lead to a room to say 'goodbye'. My family came in, and immediately I felt Chloe right in front of me shouting, "I SWEAR, IF YOU KILL KYLE, AND COME BACK ALIVE, I WILL BEAT YOU INTO THE GROUND!"

I sat there and took it figuring I deserved it. Then thought better of it. If I don't come back, this might be my last chance at telling her what I've been wishing I could say my whole life.

"You know what Chloe?" She stopped surprised I had spoken. "It's hard enough being the hated one at school. But when the person leading the group that hated you was your sister. It hurts even more. I've never felt loved by you before. Ever. And at school, you look at me like I'm an embarrassment to the family, and then to go home and have to see that every time I come out of my room. It's pure torture. Which is exactly the reason I don't come out of my room for dinner. Because I can't stand that face you give me. That face everyone makes at me. But it's worse to have it come from your sister. And to know for sure that I'm alone. I don't even think you know my middle name Chloe…"

"It's Crystal, right?"

I sighed. "No Chloe, it's Caraline. See what I mean. You don't know me. All you have ever cared about is yourself. You've never thought of me before. You never stopped to think how your actions effected the other people around you. Not even your biological sister…You never have cared about what I do before. Why should you care about what I do now? Because it effects your life? Well you know what, you effect my life too. You effect it more than you could possibly know. So don't talk to me about effecting your life. Because I don't want to hear it." I said softly. I could barely get the words out of my mouth. I hated to say such horrible things, but I knew they needed to get out. Someway, somehow.

Inside, I secretly hoped that somehow, this message would be broadcasted, even though it was supposed to be private. I needed this message to get out. So that people knew what was wrong with some kids. I knew I wasn't the only person in Panem who felt like this, but I was almost certain I was the only one in District 11 who felt like this. And people needed to learn just how hurtful things could be.

Then I remembered the interviews… Right… I could do it there. I just had to hope that the girl's Ceaser's daughter Gilda would ask me something appropriate to share it with them.

I could only hope.

I realized that Chloe was still starring at me in shock, and I knew, that nothing I had just said had gotten through to her. She was the same old Chloe I had known my whole life. She didn't get it yet. After all this time.

I slumped back onto the couch defeated. I had finally gotten the courage to say it outright, and when I did, she was too shocked by my words to absorb them. I was still an unknown person to her. She'd probably be happy to watch me die. She'd have no one to keep her popularity from sky rocketing even further.

My parents didn't really know me because I was always in my room, so they said a quick goodbye and were obviously uncomfortable.

Chloe muttered a goodbye still in shock and left me.

I was alone, and I was supposed to face the games on my own.

Good luck with that Jewel. You just keep wishing you have a chance.

And with those ugly thoughts, I was taken to a train.

Destination: My death.


	2. Road Trip! Part One

**Hey, so I have gotten two reviews so far, and I can't tell you how excited I was when I saw that! Thank you SOOOOOO much for reviewing! I love you all (Like siblings, but not like Jewel's sister or anything). I hope more and more people become interested in it as time goes on too!**

**Thanks to anyone who's taken the time to read it!**

Jewel POV

I was looking out the window, watching my self ride away from my own living hell.

Wait, did I just swear? I never swear. Ever. I mean, I am always the girl who does everything perfectly. The goody, goody. I was the one the teachers looked for when no one else raised their hands. I was the one who said please and thank you, and only talked when talked to.

I guess the Hunger Games are already taking their toll on me.

Once district 11 was out of sight, I walked into the room I had been assigned, and laid on the bed, my feet on the pillows, my head at the bottom toward the door.

I opened my notebook, and I tapped my pencil. I had been through a lot today.

I put my pencil to the paper, and just started writing.

_Dreams do Come True_

_I've gotten my wish,  
><em>_I'm going to die.  
><em>_Or at the very least,  
><em>_I'll come home loved._

_I'll be looked up to,  
><em>_I'll have lots of money.  
><em>_People will want to be around me,  
><em>_No more name calling for me._

_And if I don't come home,  
><em>_Then that's okay.  
><em>_Because I'll be dead,  
><em>_I won't have feelings anymore._

_Plus if I think about it,  
><em>_That has been my goal.  
><em>_I've been trying to die,  
><em>_For about three years._

_So when I read about princesses,  
><em>_And dreams coming true.  
><em>_I hadn't believed them,  
><em>_But I guess they were real._

_So now I know first hand,  
><em>_That things can go right.  
><em>_For the first time in my life,  
><em>_I'm being rewarded._

"Jewel!" A voice said, while pounding on my door.

I got up off the bed, clutched the notebook to my side, and opened the door.

"There you are. We have to go down to dinner. Get something nice on, and don't be late! You have ten minutes." Said the freakishly tall escort.

I nodded, not wanting to talk and draw attention to myself.

She walked away and I closed the door.

I turned to my room.

If I was going to dinner, I'd need to look nice.

I spotted a door in the very back corner.

A bathroom. I'd never had my own bathroom before…

I opened it and went inside. It was so clean and sparkly, I couldn't imagine having anything like it in district 11.

I walked toward the shower, and saw so many buttons. I pressed about two, hoping I wouldn't take all the hot water from everyone else.

After a nice two minute shower, I got out thinking I would use the rest of it if I stayed in any longer.

I wrapped a towel around myself, and walked to find a walk-in closet.

I carefully opened the door and peaked inside it. To my amazement, there were clothes I would have never seen in my life. There's no way I could have made them myself!

There were dresses of blues, greens, yellows, and oranges! Pinks, browns, Purples, and Grays.

It's a totally new rainbow to me!

I decided to take a nice turquoise blue dress, without too many frills, trying to save the best ones for the tributes yet to come.

I had about three minutes before I had to leave, but I liked to get to places early, so I started down the hall.

The door to Kyle's room was still closed.

I thought about knocking and letting him know how much longer we had, but I decided against it, thinking it was probably better to stay as invisible as possible.

I got there early, notebook in hand, as usual, and sat down at the table.

I was the only one there.

I waited quietly, as someone came and poured me a glass of water.

I smiled and thanked the man politely, but I didn't say anything else. I wasn't the talkative type…

I sipped my water slowly, waiting until everyone else got there.

The next to arrive was the escort, she was a minute early, and seemed embarrassed that she wasn't the first one here.

"Oh!" She said flustered. "Hello Jewel. I'm Deeana in case you didn't catch that earlier. How long ago did you get here?"

I shrugged not wanting to have to speak much.

Thankfully, the man came back and poured her some water as well, saving me from talking any further. Or at least for the moment,

The mentor, Tellia, came in right on time, followed by Kyle.

We sat down and I drank my water slowly in silence while listening to the others make small talk.

"Oh! I just can't wait until we get to the capitol! It's so beautiful there. Then you'll get to meet your stylists, Kresh for you Kyle, and Jemma for you Jewel. They'll take fabulous care of you!" Deeana rambled on about what would happen when we got to the capitol.

I nodded along, and listened to everything. They told us about how we would go straight to the stylists and work with them to b cleaned up, after that, the next day we'd be going to the chariot rides, and we'd see the crowd. The next day would be the beginning of training, as well as the next day. The third day of training would be when we preformed for the judges, and showed them our potential. The next day was interviews, and then we were off to the games. Fun, fun! Right…

"So now that you know the schedule," Tellia said. "Now we figure out how you want to be trained. And I need to know your strengths and weaknesses."

I actually almost smiled a little at that. Almost. But still.

My strengths? Hiding, speed, climbing, being light weight, quietness, and being somewhat invisible.

My weaknesses? Just about everything else… I don't really have much of a chance.

I've never picked up a single weapon, or used a single tool from the farms, because I was the one to crawl into the bushes no one else could get to, go to the top of the trees where other people couldn't go. That sort of thing. None of which involved any tools or strength.

"Well, I'm charming, and have a great personality. I'm strong, and am easy to love. I'm athletic, and smart. Must I go one? The strengths are endless." Kyle raved.

Blech! I hated when people only talked about how great they were. It's impossible to be perfect, so stop acting like you are. Of course I said nothing though.

"Good." Tellia said. "What about you Jewel?" She asked quietly, as if I were a mouse she was trying to lure out of a hole in the wall.

I shrugged, just trying to get through the dinner.

"Well, can you use any weapons?" She asked hopefully.

I shrugged. I'd never tried. How should I know?

She sighed. "Jewel. If you're going to go anywhere, you'll need to talk. You can't be silent during the interviews. You need to have a personality."

I already had my interviews planned out though…

I sighed. "Okay. I'm not very good with words. I don't talk much. Anyways, what was it you were asking?"

She smiled happy with herself for getting me to talk.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kyle smirk. He'd probably never heard my voice before.

"You're strengths." Tellia replied with a soft smile.

I looked at her. Really looked at her, with wavy her brown hair, and knowing brown eyes. She really did seem to want to help me. It's like she could see into me. She could understand me.

Well, that thought left as soon as it came. No one understood what I was going through, and they never would. Or at least no one I'll ever know.

I thought about it for a moment. "Well, I've never used a weapon, or even picked one up in my life, unless you count using a knife to make things for my family so that we didn't die, or to cook, but I don't. I don't know if I have it in me to kill someone. I don't think I could stand to watch the other person as they die…"

She frowned. "Well, some of that was strengths, but you made it into a weakness…" She said.

I gave a half hearted chuckle. "You don't know the half of my weaknesses." I closed my eyes and took a sip of my water. "Can I have a glass of orange juice please?" I asked politely.

The waitor nodded and left.

"Well, then what are your weaknesses?" She asked.

Oh this lady was hilarious. "Well, obviously, I'm a skinny, grubby girl who's barely ever gotten fed in her life. I'm weak, I'm not god at a single thing, I can't fight, that's for sure! Must I go on?"

Everyone at the table was simply starring at me. OOPS! I guess I kinda drew attention to me on accident…

I looked down at the table. I hadn't eaten any of my food. Although, I didn't really need it. I was used to having two or three meals a week at home. Not including school lunches, but I didn't eat much of that stuff either. I guess old habits die hard…

"Can I go back to my room please?" I whispered.

"Absolutely not!" Tellia and Deeana said.

I sighed defeated. No way would I be so impolite as to get up and leave after obviously being told not to.

I picked up my fork and moved my pasta around my plate. It gave me something to do besides talk and think about what the rest of the group was talking about.

"Hello? Jewel? Can you hear me?"

I snapped my head up. "What? I'm sorry I didn't catch that…" I said.

Kyle snickered. "We were talking about interview strategies…" He still had his stupid smirk on his face. The one Chloe fell for every single day. It disgusted me.

"Done. Next topic." I suggested.

"What do you mean done?" Tellia asked.

"I mean, it's been taken care of, I already know what I'm doing. Can we move on now?" I asked. These people were so pushy sometimes.

"Well, do we know what it is Jewel?" Deeana asked in her strange capitol accent.

"You'll find out soon enough. I mean, we only have, what? About a week until the interviews? I'll have it perfected by then. Then you'll all get to see it." I said quietly. Can we PLEASE move on to another topic.

"Well what were you going for? Strong? Independent? Humorous? What?"

I sighed. "None. I was just planning on being me…"

The escort's eyes lit up. "Perfect! The little innocent girl who was reaped into the Hunger Games. I love it! I can totally make that work!"

I sighed. Dang, she was more excited about my plan than I was. I hadn't thought it through that far. I just knew I wanted to show my bullies that it does hurt, and let them know just how terrible they have been making things for me…

I nodded as if I was on the same page though…

"I'm really tired, and I'm really not hungry, can I please be excused to go to my room and rest up?" I asked just dying to get out of the room full of people.

"Are you sure? Not even some bread?" Tellia asked concerned.

"If it'll make you feel better, I'll take a basket of rolls to my room okay?" I said, getting up to leave.

"Okay." She snapped her fingers at a server. "Basket of rolls!" She demanded.

I was about to add please to the end of her sentence but the server rushed off too fast. So much for manners.

After about a minute of standing and being interrogated by Deeana about how well I knew the scheduale, the server came out and handed me the basket of freshly baked rolls.

"Thank you." I said with a sincere smile.

He looked at me and the corners of his mouth turned up just a bit.

I walked back to my room quickly, eating some of the bread on the way.

Though I wasn't able to eat very much very fast, I finished two rolls by the time I got to my room.

I put my poetry notebook underneath my pillow, like I do every night, so that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands, and set the rolls on the table beside the bed. Just incase I woke up hungry.

I closed my eyes and tried to drift asleep, but I had too much on my mind. Each time I closed my eyes, a new horror awaited me behind my closed eyes.

Mutts, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes. The horrors continued.

Eventually, I kept my eyes closed, and I was eaten by a man eating plant, but that's when I knew I was asleep.

I was going to need all the rest I could get for the next few weeks. If I made it that far that is…

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><p><strong>Let me know what you thought! I've really been trying to make this perfect for you guys. I've been trying to make it so you really feel like you know Jewel as a person. I've thought her out so far, but I don't know if I've reflected that in my writting. Let me know how I'm doing, otherwise, I'll forever be in the dark. :( So please help me out! It only takes a minute! And compared to the two hours I spent, that's nothing!<strong>

**So again. I repeat! REWIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**


	3. Ride to Death Day Two

**I'm back! I know it's been forever. I could go on and on, and try to tell you all the excuses I have, but that would take up half the chapter, so I'm gonna move on. Just trust me when I tell you I've been busy. If you're curious... Let's just say I've had some REALLY bad luck lately...**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own the Hunger Games no matter how much I wish I did. I do own the characters in this story though. Those are mine! I also own the plot.**

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><p>Jewel POV<p>

I woke up that morning, before the sun rose. As I would on a normal a normal day.

I would leave to go on a nice jog around the neighborhood, but today was not an ordinary day.

I was on a train to the Hunger Games. That was so not normal.

I was still excited about it, but reality was finally hitting me. I wasn't sure I wanted to die or not, but now I had no choice. I had to keep reminding myself that I didn't volunteer, so even if I hadn't had the nerve to volunteer, then I'd still be there.

I guess that now It was supposed to be fate then.

I couldn't help but wonder if I was coming out of here alive. I mean, sure it would take away the pain, but still. I had been living this way for a while. It wouldn't be so bad to keep going.

Shut up Jewel. You're gonna die whether you like it or not. So get over it.

I sighed, and just sat up in bed.

I decided I should go take a run, just to continue what I would usually do. To keep my routine straight.

I walked over to the closet, to find that there was nothing suitable for running.

I sighed. Well, now what?

I looked at my reaping dress, and at the curtains. I got a plan!

I walked over to the curtains, and ripped them off the hinges. I used my teeth to rip some pieces off, and I pulled the strings off until it was about the right size.

That's when I knew it was time to find something pointed to sew with.

I looked around the room, and settled with breaking the point off of the push pins in the bulletin board. Okay, so it was small, but I've had to use worse trust me!

Yeah... Never try to carve a statue that your sister just had to have with a shard of anyways, I got some of the strings tied around, the pointy end of the push pin, and weaved in and out of the curtain.

Aboutan hour later, I got changed into the really sad new outfit. It fit my motto perfectly. Hey, if it works, then use it.

I never really cared what I wore each day, so this was nothing new. I mean, yeah, it gave another reason for people to totally and completely make fun of me, but hey, what do I care? I'm already a complete and total nerd that no one likes. It really isn't going to make much of a difference.

I put my ear up to the door to listen for anyone else in the I could hear, was some really soft snoring. Coast is clear.

I cracked the door just in case, an poked my head out the door and looked side to side. I was stunned to see that Kyle was awake and had the light on in his room.

Normally, I would have just kept quiet and walked out anyways, but I'd have to go past his room to go anywhere, since my room was at the end of the train. I'm not sure why I was surprised, because I have some of the worst luck in the history of the world.

So now, I either had to ninja my way across the way, or I could easily just crawl back into my room like the coward people tell me I am.I was about to chose the second option, when I saw a shadow come toward me. And it came from inside Kyle's room.

I froze, unsure of where to go.

I eventually decided to run out, the opposite direction of my room.

When I was about three yards past his door, I heard a voice yell at me.

"What are you doing! It's five in the morning. No one ever gets up this early except for me. Why are you awake?"

Okay, so now, I pretty much had a choice of making small talk, running back to my room, or running as far away from him as I could get.

I did something totally un-Jewel like. I stayed and made small talk.

I guess a part of me was hoping that the Kyle who stood up for me four years ago, was still in there somewhere. I admit, it was a bit of a stretch, but a girl can still hope right? So there I was standing there frozen mid-step, caught like a little kid who just stole cookies out of a jar. I turned pivoted around on the balls of my feet, and turned toward him. I looked down at the ground, ashamed that I was talking to someone as 'popular' as him.

"Well... I get up early everyday for a jog..." I shifted from foot to foot nervously. I couldn't believe I was talking to Kyle again. After he stood up for me, and became unpopular because of it, I had sworn I'd never talk to him again. I wasn't going to make him unpopular again.

Oh." Kyle said in the stupid way he does,

I almost started to cry. Almost. It took a lot to make me cry, so when I get close, it's obviously significant.

I wish the old Kyle was here.

I realized that he was waiting for an answer still.

Small talk... Small talk...

"How was football this season?" He was the quarterback of the team. That was good right? I had never paid much attention to most sports. But, I figured that since he was the leader of the jocks, it was probably a good thing.

"Awesome. We won the championship 24-13." He looked off in the distance as if he could see the championship behind me. He snapped back to reality. "So what have you been doing lately?" He said with a smile that told me he already knew and just wanted to hear me say it.

He knew I'd been trying to kill myself.

I smiled and pretended to think about it for a second. "Gee I wonder." I thought some more. I mused about the possible answers. "Well, I haven't been going to bed hungry every night, because I can't stand to hear my sister make fun of me. I definitely haven't been walking the halls while being made fun of." And the finally. "And I definitely haven't been pretending that I'm fine, and didn't need any help to be okay." I screamed.

Kyle just stared at me. He'd never heard me so angry. He'd never heard me scream before.

Honestly, no one has except Chloe. A lot of people haven't even heard my voice before.

He continued starring and slowly raised his arms as if he meant no harm.

Yeah right. Everyone I know has meant harm to me. They knew what they were doing to me. They knew it would hurt me. They just didn't care. They thought it was fun.

"Kyle, you know what? I hate you! You have no right to make fun of me. I am my own person, and it shouldn't matter what you think so just... just... SHUT UP!" I screamed at him. "Do you remember that one time? That one time with Linnea? When you stood up for me when she told me to go to h***? Because I sure remember it. But I'm not sure, because I'm not sure that person exists anymore. You've changed Kyle. Where's the old you? The nice one. The one who stood up for weaker people. The one who didn't call me names in the hallways like 'Just Jewel' or 'Freaky Felicity'. The one who cared about others. The one who put others before himself every so often. Where is he Kyle? Where is he?" I demanded.

I looked up from the floor, straight into his eyes with a longing expression full of hope, that maybe, just maybe the old Kyle was still in there somewhere.

When I looked up, my hope was crushed. It wasn't the first Kyle, nor was it the second Kyle.

This Kyle, seemed to be on the verge of a revelation. But he needed a push.

I couldn't do any more than I already had.

I took inventory of myself hoping that I could find the strength to give him the push in the deep dark corners of my mind, my heart, anything.

All I came up with was a trembling body, with tears starting to form at the edges of my eyes.

What have I done?

Oh, wait. I can answer that.

I made myself vulnerable, and drew lots of attention to myself. In other words, I just undid everything I'd worked for in the last three years. I made myself known.

I looked around wondering what to do.

Eventually, I decided to go where I was going originally.

I ran away.

I looked back and saw Kyle starring confusedly after me. He hadn't moved an inch.

Good.

I didn't top running for at least five minutes.

When I did finally stop, it was only because I'd gone the length of the train. A mile. There wasn't any further I could go.

I was out of breath and panting. I could feel my lungs burning.

But if I could get away from my past, I knew I'd keep running. Until I finally outran it.

But that wasn't possible. You can't outrun a part of you.

I looked up at the ceilings, and around me on the floor.

I know this is going to sound stupid, but I needed to get away. Away from everyone, and everything.

Just like in the trees. Or when I hid in the bushes.

I looked around for somewhere to go.

I spotted a cupboard that I might be able to fit in.

Inside was a very large TV.

Not ready to give up quite yet, I checked if there was anything behind it.

For once in my life, something good had happened. It was empty behind it, besides the few wires coming from it.

I climbed in behind the TV and tried to close the cabinet doors silently.

Once one side was fully closed, and the other was only open by about three centimeters, I decided it was good enough and sank into the back of it.

I sighed and wondered what life would be like in the games.

Would I make an alliance? Or would I be on my own, just like at home.

Stupid Jewel. Of course you'll be on your own. Why would someone want to have you for an ally.

I thought about it, and when I came up with nothing, I slunk back a bit more, and closed my eyes.

I was really tired, and I was well hidden. I would be safe here.

Actually, I could probably sit here until the train stopped.

The thought was appealing. We only had one more day.

I could last one more day without food.

Only god know- Wait, I'm gonna change that. There's no such thing as god. If there was, then I would be happy.

Only I know how long I've gone without food. I think it was about three days, so I still had a ways to go. I had some of the bread last night anyways.

I let myself sink into a semi-peaceful sleep.

Only semi-peaceful, because nothing is peaceful in my life.

I hoped I could stay here forever, and not have to worry about all this stuff anymore.

I could only hope as I slowly drifted into unconsciousness.

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><p><strong>I'm sorry that this chapter took so long. I've been super busy, and have had some pretty bad luck lately. So I had a bunch of things to take care of. But I finally got it up, and that's all that really matters right? I sure hope so.<strong>

**So anyways, remember to rewiew, tell me what you think. I don't know how succsessful this will turn out to be, so try to let me know whether you like it or not, and make sure to include why!**


	4. Sweet Dreams?

**Oh my gosh guys. I have had this writen forever. It was just a matter of finding time to put it on here. So to make it up to you, I am in the middle of writing the next one too. I'll put it up tomorrow. Is that okay?**

**I figured you guys had all been wondering about the time that Kyle stuck up for Jewel, so I have that at the very begining. It's kinda like a flash back. I'm gonna tell you all right not, that Jewel is asleep in the cabinet when the chapter starts. The begining part is a dream. I made it like... A dream flashback. So don't start getting all confused at the first sentence because she's at school. **

**Also, I didn't proof read it, I wanted to get the chapter up asap, so there's probably lots of mistakes. So I'm sorry!**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own the Hunger Games**

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><p><span>Jewel Pov<span>

I was walking down the hallway.

I could feel the eyes boring into my back. All were thinking the same thing.

When should I make fun of Jewel today?

I hate Mondays.

Monday is the day that everyone came back to school with all their cool ideas of how to make fun of me.

I couldn't help but wonder how terrible their ideas would be today. They always tried their favorite ideas they'd come up with on Monday. Now, guess what day of the week it is?

Yup. It's Monday. Of course it was.

_RING!_

The bell. To the next class.

Run Jewel run! Don't let anyone stop you! If you get stopped, it means it's time to find out about all their horrible ideas they came up with last weekend.

So I'm walking asa fast as I can, but still trying to go slow enough not to draw attention to myself.

The English class is in sight. Just about twenty more yards Jewel. Then you're home-

"Hey Jewl!" Says a highpitched sickeningly sweet voice.

Crap!

That voice just so happens to belong to my second least favorite person.

Kathy's best friend Linnea.

I siigh and turn around to see not only Linnea, but also the rest of the crew. Kathy, the leader, Samantha and Cally, the twins, Abby, the fashonista, and Zoey, the one who's only there because she does everyone's homework for them.

Plus their boyfriends Damon, Koby, Reece, Mike, and Allan.

I looked at them questioningly.

"I heard you were from another planet. Why don't you go back there?" Said Samantha.

The rest of the crew cracked up laughing. I didn't. Obviously.

"Yeah, no one wants you here anyway." Added Abby.

I started to turn around. Not like anything productive was going on here.

"Don't just walk away from us!" Shouted Linnea. But when I kept on walking she threw another insult at me. "Go to h*** Jewel!"

I was getting prepared for them to shout insults at me, but instead, another voice talked.

"Shut up Linnea. Leave her alone. It's not like she ever did anything to you." Spoke a deep voice.

I was so surprised, I almost tripped. Thankfully I didn't but still.

I could recognize almost everyone in the district by their voice. This voice was no exeption.

The owner of this voice was a popular football player. Everyone loved him, and every girl without a boyfriend wanted him.

It was none other than Kyle Throtingward.

What the heck is going on?

Why does Kyle suddenly care about who makes fun of me? I'm no one. This isn't supposed to happen!

Then... Everything went fuzzy.

All I could see was blurred lines, and every so often I could pick out a face.

Chloe. Linnea. Abby. Kyle.

I could hear laughter from all sides. I even recognized a few.

Mike. Kathy. Cally. Damon.

Then all of a sudden, everything stopped. I was sitting in blackness, and the only noise was the echo of the laughter.

Once that ended, I was all alone.

I sat there for at least two minutes until I felt wetness running down my cheek. I didn't even bother to wipe my tears away. More were coming. I was sure of it.

Then someone broke the silence by calling for me.

Who was that? I recognize that voice!

Then it hit me.

Tellia.

My eyes snapped open. I was still in the cabinet.

I reached up to feel my cheeks and sure enough they were wet.

"Jewel!" The voice called again.

Oh my god, I'm so stupid.

While I sat here zoning out and getting away from my problems, Tellia continued looking for me.

IDIOT!

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><p><strong>Okay, I'll put the next chapter up tomorrow. I have to finish writting it.<strong>

**Let me know what you thought of the flashback dream thing. I'd never tried writing a dream before. So I'm not sure how it went!**


	5. Arrival

**Hey Everyone! I was so happy about the reviews I got! Thanks for the tips.**

**Honestly, I hadn't even noticed the connection to Peeta and Katniss. No joke. I'll try to do my best to make it different though. I promise. I mean, Peeta didn't turn evil after the bread inncedent, so I'll try to make more differences. :)**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own the Hunger Games**

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><p><span>Jewel POV<span>

I plastered a fake smile on my face.

"Jewel, the train is going to be at the capitol in about twenty minutes. Okay?" Tellia informed me sweetly.

I nodded politely and ran back to my room once she was out of sight.

I sat on my bead and decided I would write some poetry.

I hate smiling about something when I'm not even happy. Or when I totally disagree with what they're talking about.

I grabbed my notebook from under the pillow and began to write

With A Smile

I stand around,  
>With a smile.<br>I watch you pass,  
>With a smile.<p>

I eat my lunch,  
>With a smile.<br>I do my schoolwork,  
>With a smile.<p>

I listen to you talk,  
>About all your stupid ideas,<br>And nod along,  
>With a smile.<p>

But even though,  
>I'm smiling.<br>It doesn't mean,  
>I'm at all happy.<p>

As I wrote the last stanza I sighed. I hated how true it was. What a constant reminder of how terrible life can be to you. How a simple thing like smiling can do that.

It was kinda sad how this poem was true. I mean really, smiling?

I gotta say, it might sound easy to smile, but when all you want to do is strangle the person you're smiling at, it's really difficult to keep it up.

Okay, so that might sound a little harsh for a sweet and Innocent girl like me right? Well, I'm not always like that.

On the inside at least.

On the outside I'm always sweet and innocent. But on the inside, I sometimes become the normal twelve-year-old girl. I might not let anyone know about it, but it's still there. You can trust me on that.

I lied back down on my bed and sighed again. I was glad I wasn't home, but this isn't the ideal place to be either. Well... It was at one point, but now I wish I could have had the option to just run or something.

I felt a shift in the air and instantly knew that something had changed.

I thought about it, and realized that the train might be early to the station.

"Jewel! Jewel!" Tellia came running in. "We have arrived to the capitol. I'm supposed to mentor you, and I can tell you right now, that you're design crew, is going to annoy the h*** out of you. But you can't object to anything. Because the designers - Well most of them - know what the capitol wants to see. So you have to let them do whatever they want to you. After ten minutes, you'll be ready to kill the- or in your case politely explain to them that you don't like it and then run." Oh how little does she know me... "If you do that, which I have had tributes do, one of two things happen. They yell at you and make you endure even worse things, or they'll do what you want, and all of the people in the capitol will hate you."

Hmm. Sounds like a great choice...

I had to make a decision, get her to shut up by talking, or staying quiet.

I made an educational decision. "Okay, okay. I get it." I said quietly.

Her smile faded into a face of complete shock.

I wanted to say more, but her face told me it would just cause disaster...

"Uh... Okay... Well then I'll... See you later?" She stuttered.

I nodded and went to my closet.

I figured I'd need something more suitable for the capitol. I didn't want to wear something as fancy as what I'd seen in the rainbow of colors, but I wanted something to at least, kinda fit in.

When I opened the doors, I found that it didn't matter. There was a note pinned to a blue and pink dress.

_Where this to the capitol. It's suitable for a tribute to wear._

_~Deeana_

Well then. That saved me ten minutes.

I picked it up and held it against me, to see what it looked like.

It had was totally jeweld on the chest area. Barely any of the pink fabric was showing. The jewels were in blue flower shapes, with a white jewel as the center. Around the blue flowers, there were some white jewels to fill in around it.

It had a beautiful folded pink waistband that would no doubt make me look even skinnier than I already do.

The skirt was many many layers of different colored see through fabric on top of the normal hot pink base fabric. There were many colors of the see through fabric. Like a dull sunlight yellow, a soft seafoam green, a periwinkle purple, a rosie pink, and a sky blue.

(www (dot) the rose dress (dot) com/shop /products/ item AS (dot) asp? id=S933 & vendor id = AS)

Uh... I usually don't wear this kind of thing. I mean, I couldn't if I wanted to. I don't have the money for it. In second grade my friend and I went window shopping for dresses and tried a bunch on. I refused to try on any of them because it's just not my thing.

I took a shower in my personal bathroom, pressing buttons that seemed like they might be good.

I ended up with a nice warm shower with lemon soap, orange shampoo, and lime conditioner.

I stayed in there for an extra two minutes enjoying the aroma it created.

When I came out, I wrapped the lilac purple towel around myself, which may I add felt like I was wrapped in a cloud. Including the wetness of it from the shower.

Once I was sried off, I pressed a button that looked as though it would dry my hair for me, and a colum came out of the floor.

It had a plaque that said:

_Put hand on the spherical figure._

Thankfully, I payed attention in school, and knew that it meant for me to put my hand on the ball on top of the colunm.

I did as it said, and felt the electricity currents flow through me, and out of the corners on my eyes, I saw myself in the mirror.

I looked like I was partially glowing, my skin had never looked so radient in my life. My brownish blonde hair was sticking up in all directions apperently getting dried off. And I saw a hint of a smile on my face.

I took my hand off the ball, and felt my hair.

Totally dry.

That's gotta be one of the weirdest machines I've ever used. Although that isn't saying much considering the fact that I haven't used many machines before. Unless you count pencil sharpeners... Because I don't.

I walked out- Okay, I snuck out- of my room, to where we boarded. I peaked around the corner and found that I was the second one there. Kyle was also there already. Odd, because he's usually exasctly on time to everything. Guess he's excited and nervous too...

I sighed quietly. Do I really want to walk out there in this?

I decided I'd be going on tv in about three minutes anyways, it would be good practice.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and started walking in my way too tall pink heels.

( http:/ /indian fashions (dot) word press (dot) com/2009 / 05/ 09 / hot-pink-pumps / )

I walked quietly and sat down in the chair closets to the exit doors.

He turned to me about to say something most likely snobby, but stopped when he saw my outfit. His mouth was wide open.

After about a minute of silence, he started to smile and laugh.

I felt defensive at first, and decided since it was most likely one of the last couple of days I'll be alive, I might as well fight back and be myself for it.

I started quiet, and got louder as I went. "Why are you laughing at me? What, you never seen a girl in a dress? Or is it the fact you never thought you'd see me in a dress? Because you know what? This is what I'm wearing to the capitol, and that's final. I don't care what you think!" I said.

He immediently calmed himself. "No, I thought about what you said and decided that you were right. I haven't been acting like myself for years. And I realized, that you haven't either. I think I finally met the real Jewel. Am I right?"

I was dumbfounded. I guess while I was hiding in a cabinet, he was being prductive. "Hmm. So you aren't the stupid jock anymore? You're the nice Kyle I used to know?" I was avoiding his question because he was right. I just didn't want to admit it.

"Right. And am I to asume that you aren't the shy suicidal girl anymore?" He countered.

I sighed. "There's a complicated answer to that question... Do you think you have oh... I don't know, maybe two hours or so?" I joked in a serious tone. It was only about half an hour. Fifteen minutes at the least. And hour at most.

He looked at me confused.

"Exactly my point. If ou still care later when we have time, then maybe I'll tell you. Maybe." I emphasized the maybe.

"Okay..?" He mumbled as Deeana and Tellia walked in.

"Alright guys!" Deeana seemed excited. "It's time to walk out of the train station and straight into the make-over center! Are you ready?"

I nodded. Then thought better of my silent act. Or at least while I'm around these three. When I'm on camera I'll be my old self. That, I'll be sure of.

"Let's go." Said Tellia unenthusiastically.

With that, the door opened.

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><p><strong>Well, there you have it folks! The arrival to the Capitol!<strong>

**If you want to see the clothes she was wearing, I put the site in parenthasees, so replace (dot) with a period, and take out the spaces. Put that in the url and you should have it!**

**What do you think? I made it extra long!**

**Tell me what you think!**


	6. Earth, Jupiter, and Pluto

**Hey guys! Well, while I as at the track of the Indy 500 and we were eating in the parking lot, I had my notebook with me and I was bored. So I wrote about half the chapter, and I wrote the rest when I got back to my hotel room.**

**So here it is, getting ready for the chariot rides.**

**For those of you wondering about the title of the chapter, well, I guess you'll just have to keep reading... :D**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own the Hunger Games, or any of the characters from the original Hunger Games.**

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><p><span>Jewel POV<span>

As the door opened, I put my shy little girl smile on my face, and walked behind Deeana, Tellia and Kyle. I watched my stupid too high heels as I walked, and only looked up at the crowd every so often.

When I did though, boy was I surprised!

Don't get me wrong, I've seen capitol people on television, and I've seen Deeana. It's just so much more of a shock when you see it live, in person, and in great crowds!

Now, I always thought of myself coming from another planet. You know, due to the fact I have no friends, am not a people person, and had so many weird qualities about myself.

I had figured if I'd come from another planet, it was probably Pluto. It was small, and not technically considered a planet.

Okay, so say I am from Pluto. Well, if so, then the capitol people are from Jupiter!

These people looked insane!

Each time I looked up, I memorized one person's appearance.

One person, had white fur all over their body, and long ears that poked out of their head. When they couldn't see, the hopped closer to us, that's right, they hopped. They were like a human sized rabbit!

Another had different colored limbs. His head was purple, his left leg was yellow, his right leg was red, his left arm was orange, and his right arm was blue. Oh, did I forget to mention his two pairs of antennae? Yeah, they were green.

I don't think either of the two's appearance beat Spot. She had whiskers, pointy ears, and a tail. She was orange with back spots. The weirdest part? Her ears held up a halo that I wasn't sure was attached or not...

As I was pushed into a new building, I looked back and saw Rainbow man give rabbit boy a carrot.

Wow...

I turned my head so I could see where I was going, and took the stupid shy smile off my face.

They continued to push me, and when I thought I was at the end of my rope, and had to hold in my screams, the finally opened a door and shoved me inside.

How rude! Well then...

Before you could say, "Well what now?" There were three people in front of me with creepy smiles on their faces.

One had aquamarine blue skin that made me feel like I was on an island, even though the only water I've seen in real life was that pond. She had seaweed green hair, that was in a nice braid down her back. Her aqua skin was covered in purple tattoos of shells and waves and sea stars.

The other girl had pink skin, purple hair, long dark eyelashes, and her face was caked with makeup. There were sparkles all over her. It made her look like a fairy. I really thought she was going to take off on hidden wings right there.

The last one was a man, and he looked like one of those people in the old times you see in pictures. He had a sparkly red outfit on, and a red cape, along with one of those weird hats... He looked like... Someone from... Was it called Mexico back then?

I didn't totally remember, even though I paid attention in all my history classes. I suppose it didn't matter though.

Anyway, fairy girl was bouncing around all excited. I already knew she was going to get really annoying, really fast...

"So I'm Britta, this is Richardo, and she's Matice." Fairy girl said pointing to each oone.

Okay, so fairy girl is Britta, Mr. Tall Dark and Sparkly is Richardo, and Mermaid lady is Matice. Easy enough.

I nodded using my shy girl act again. I really didn't want to talk to them. They can blabber to me all they want, but I'm not talking.

"And I suppose you're Jewel?" Drawled Matice. She didn't seem super excited to be here. It's possible she's got a daughter she has to teach to swim later today or something.

I nodded shyly, and looked down.

I now realized, that whenever I used this act, it seemed to really make me feel that way. Like I'm nothing, and everyone else is better than me so I have to take whatever they do to me. I'll have to experiment with that later or something.

"Not much of a talker?" Mr. Tall Dark and Sparkly asked.

I shook my head.

"That's okay. We'll still have fun!" Said Britta.

"We'll need to strip you first..." Said Mermaid, and started stripping me.

Awkward...

As soon as I was stripped down, they got me in this green looking paste stuff in a tub. Not sure what it was supposed to do, but it was actually relaxing.

About when I got comfy, they pulled me over to a chair. They made me sit down, and got some sticky stuff, and some paper. They laid the sticky stuff over, and it burned. Before it could cool off, they put the paper on top of it, and let it cool. Once it felt kind of nice, they ripped it off, pulling out all my hair by the root.

Ow!

I flinched in pain. What kind of torture is this?

I grimaced a tiny bit, and squinted my eyes shut when they weren't looking.

They continued to do the same over every inch of my body, while periodically clucked about how hairy I was. Apparently it was 'looked down upon' to have hair at the capitol. It made me wonder about how bunny boy got away with it. What, you can have fur, but not hair?

I guess district eleven people just don't understand fashion.

"Well, we only have two more strips, but I must say, you haven't made a noise. Most tributes are begging us to stop by the second leg..." Said Mr. Tall Dark and Sparkly.

I bet they are, but I'm not the 'normal tribute'.

"Yeah, it's weird, like you don't have vocal cords..." Chirped Britta.

Did she really just say that? I mean, come on! I would get offended, but it's not worth my time.

When they finished my legs, they brought me over to another tub. This one had this pink water in it.

When I got in, it was hot, and it stung. Everywhere.

Next they made me stand up, and they grabbed some towels, and some weird blue goo. Which they proceeded to rub me down with.

Finally I was aloud to sit down, at which point Matice began yanking on my hair with a brush. Britta started filing my nails, and Richardo worked on my feet with vengeance, with what looked like an industrial hand sander getting calluses off.

After what seemed like hours of work, I was judged presentable enough to see my stylist.

By this time, I was butt naked, been poked and prodded, stripped of all bodily hair, and had lost at least three layers of skin.

After about ten minutes, my stylist came in and was silent. Yay! She walked around me, and I could tell she was thinking. She wasn't sure what to do with me.

"Well, at least she's clean now." She said with a thick accent. "I had hoped you'd be taller and not so scrawny." She walked slowly around me as if eyeing her pray.

I could tell this relationship wasn't going to end well.

I mentally tried to calm myself. It wouldn't look to good if I hit my stylist in the head with a book.

"Well, I suppose seven inch heels could make up for some of the height difference..." Said my annoying stylist.

I wanted to tell her I wasn't short, that I was travel sized, but I had to keep my stupid act going. Plus I didn't want her to yell at me and make things any worse...

She clapped her hands twice. "Richardo! Get me outfit number twenty four!" She ordered. "Matice, you start on her make-up, and Britta, you take her hair." She looked me straight in the eyes, "We're going to make you pretty little one..." She said in a sickly sweet voice, smiled before going to show Britta how she wanted the hair done.

About three hours later, I was seven inches taller, and dressed like a pilgrim from one of my history books. Great. I'm doomed.

It was the ugliest dress I'd ever seen, but I knew that arguing wouldn't get me anywhere. It could be worse, if I was in district ten, she could have made me dress like a cow...

"All done!" She said with a grin. "You wouldn't win first place win a beauty contest, but it's not like you gave me much to work with..."

She dragged me by my arm, and I apparently was supposed to have already learned how to walk in seven inch heels. I didn't get the memo.

To make things worse, the skirt was meant for a girl taller than me, and even with the heels, I was still having trouble not tripping over it. Add the seven inch heels into the mix and you get... Trouble.

After falling on my face for the third time in the past minute and a half, my stylist groaned in disgust, and let me switch to flat shoes.

Sadly, she forgot that the skirt was already too long, and I tripped once again. Thankfully Richardo hemmed the skirt for me, taking off about a foot of fabric so that now I could actually see my shoes.

I now looked like a midget in an ugly dress, but at least I could walk without tripping every thirty seconds...

My stylist pulled me down to the chariots, and I climbed on the wagon. I suppose it was meant to look like one of those covered wagons from the old days or something. But to me it just looked stupid.

Kyle came down in an outfit kind of like mine, only not in dress form.

He towered above me by... uh... A couple feet or so.

When my stylist saw him, she complained to his stylist, and asked if they could switch tributes for the interview outfits. He declined.

Thanks for the support! Nice to know they love me so much.

With that, the oxen started walking behind district ten's chariot.

I looked down at my feet and shuffled them a little bit. I could almost feel my stylist's rage behind me. She had drilled me on looking up and smiling for about ten minutes earlier. Which I had completely ignored and started thinking about butterflies.

The crowd wasn't super enthusiastic about us, which I totally understood. The only cheers, were Kyle's name. Once again, I have been shunned. Oh well.

Who knows, maybe I developed some kind of super power so now I can turn invisible.

I spent the rest of the ride thinking about how awesome invisibility would be.

Eventually though, Kyle tapped my arm and nodded his head at the screen. I guess we were at the president's mansion now.

I looked up at the giant screen, saw our faces, and looked down again.

I was right. I did look like an ugly midget. Especially next to Kyle.

The chariots did one last lap around the ring, and we were aloud to go into a large room that I assumed was the training center.

Deeana greeted us at the door, and told us our rooms were on floor eleven. She rode up in the elevator with us, chattering about how 'great' we looked, which we all knew was a joke, considering the fact that I looked like an ugly midget. As previously mentioned.

She walked us each to my room, and my stuff was all there. They'd taken my notebook in here too.

I laid down and just stayed there for a long time. I wished I could never get up again. I wanted to just lie here for a long, long time.

Eventually, Tellia knocked on my door and said to get in something nice and to come down to dinner.

I changed into the first thing I touched, and walked out into the hall. I walked down to the dinner table and I was glad I wasn't last. Kyle was late.

I sat down and asked the waiter nicely for some orange juice. Quietly that is.

After Kyle came in, I got the unpleasant surprise that our stylists were eating with us. Great...

All throughout dinner, my stylist talked on and on about how hard it was to make me look presentable, and about what a failure I was as a person.

I sat there quietly picturing evil squirrels attacking her. It actually put a hint of a smile on my face.

"Oh! You can smile now, but you couldn't back when you were on the chariot? How am I ever going to be taken seriously as a stylist if I keep getting people like you as tributes!" My stylist demanded.

I barely held in a laugh.

With that, everyone ignored me again, and went back to their conversation.

You know, this invisibility is something I could get used to...

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><p><strong>Okey dokey. I hope you all liked it. My sister helped me write it, So you can all pm her about how awesome she is for helping me write this. Her pen name is Scarlet DayDreamer. Okay, Tedd and Olga (a.k.a. mom and dad) helped too.<strong>

**I hope you all liked it, and make sure to check back again later for the next chapter! Next is the introduction to training day.**

**Hope you had a great Memorial Day Weekend!**


	7. Does Singing Count As A Strength?

Jewel POV

I woke up at about six in the morning, just like any other day.

Now I had to kill some time…

I took a long shower, and saw some black clothes on my bed.

I changed into them and heard a knock on my door. "Wake up! Get ready for training! We need to talk about strategy!" Tellia called.

I opened the door and headed to the dining room. Deeana, and Tellia were already seated and Kyle was busy filling his plate with fruit and bacon.

Once everyone was seated, and I had orange juice in front of me along with a plate of fruit, biscuits, and sausage, Tellia started talking to us.

"Well, today's the first day of training. First of all, do you two want to be in an alliance?" Tellia asked.

Kyle and I looked at each other and I waited for him to decide. "I don't know. Jewel?"

Oh great, it was up to me. I shook my head. "Maybe if we encounter each other in the arena. But no, probably not." I said quietly.

Everyone nodded and excepted my decision.

"Do either of you want an alliance at all?" Tellia asked.

We shook our heads, Kyle didn't want an alliance either.

"Okay, sounds good. Well, do either of you have any good talents?" Tellie asked us hopefully.

I nodded.

"Well did you want to tell us what they were?"

I shook my head. Nope. I'd rather keep that to myself. Plus I wasn't in the mood to talk much today.

"Why not..?"

"Because I'm doing this my own way." I said quietly but just loudly enough for them to hear.

That was probably not my best idea…

"YOUR OWN WAY!" Screamed Deeana.

Apparently she cared what I did… Weird. No one else did…

I tried to calm her down the only way I knew how. It's too bad though, because it was kind of awkward…

I started to sing. I made the song up as I went. "Calm down you poor lady, it'll all be okay. These things will work out, and nothing will go wrong. I'll do just fine, and you'll get a promotion. It's okay, so just calm right down…"

With that, every stopped what they were doing, Kyle dropped his fork on the ground mid-bite and starred at me with that look that made me feel like an alien.

It was extremely awkward and I wanted to turn invisible again, but it wasn't happening.

"So uh..." I tried to find a way to make light of this. "Does singing count as a strength in the arena?" I laughed awkwardly.

Tellia was the first to snap out of the trace. She laughed awkwardly. "Well... Wasn't that refreshing..."

I almost laughed. Instead, I grabbed the basket of rolls and ran.

I wasn't totally sure where I was running, but anywhere was better than there.

I got to the stairs and made a snap decision to go up instead of down. Turns out, there's 13 floors. The elevator stops at twelve though. So I kept running until I was on the thirteenth floor. I only stopped because that's as high as the building went.

I walked out and I looked around the floor. No one was up here...

All I found were offices, and old tribute rooms. This must have been for District Thirteen...

There were cobwebs everywhere, but I dug through the drawers. Most of them were empty. Some had old papers with some kind of code.

I walked into the second to last room and saw that it was somewhat clean. Somewhat. It still had lots of cobwebs, but it looked like someone had been there in the last ten years.

I found tapes. Tapes, and tapes, and tapes.

I remembered seeing a television in one of the rooms and grabbed the big box of tapes.

I went into a room with a television, and put in the first tape.

The screen flickered to life slowly, and I saw an image of an old person. The caption said it was Hevora Yolandar.

I'd heard about her in history books. She was the head gamemaker for the very first Hunger Games.

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><p><strong>Ooh! Cliff hanger! Don't worry though. The more reviews I get the faster I'll update.<strong>

**Yeah, I know. I'm evil. Deal with it. :P**


	8. Secrets Are Revealed

**Hey Everybody! I have a super long chapter for you guys because I was in a good mood. Plus... My ideas just kept flowing and I couldn't stop writing! So lucky for you guys!**

**So yeah. This chapter is extra long, and... I think you'll like the little sneak peak that Jewel finds...**

**I'm gonna shut up now so I don't spoil anything...**

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><p><span>Jewel POV<span>

Why would she be on a tape up here? In this mostly empty floor?

I stayed quiet, and just watched.

"The capitol has won the Rebellion and now we must give the districts punishment. Last night, I was thinking about this. I have some up with a plan. I have decided we will call it The Hunger Games. Two children, one boy and one girl, from each district will be sent into an arena to fight to the death. The last one standing will win. The winner will receive a special house in the Victor Village of each district, and will receive much money, food, and popularity."

The screen changed to show her from another angle.

"The next year however. The winner will have to mentor two more tributes so that they too can win. They will be forced to keep mentoring until they either die, or achieve getting a tribute out alive."

Blah, blah, blah. I've heard this a billion times before.

She smiled. "However. I have decided the arenas will be different each year. There will be a pattern, undetectable by most, for the tributes to fight in. The arena goes as follows:"

I perked up, interested to see if I could get a bit of a head start on the games.

"On each odd prime number, there will be sand. And lots of it. On the only prime even number, there will be canyons. On multiples of twos, there will be trees. Every seven games, there will be some sort of ice. Gamemakers can be very creative with this one. On multiples of fives, there will be lots of water. Some will have more than others. On multiples of threes, there will be mountains, some games may have smaller mountains that others."

I paused the tape.

I thought about what this meant. This was the 210th Hunger Games. 210 was not prime, so no sand or canyons. It was however a multiple of two so there are definitely trees. It's also a multiple of seven, so there is going to be ice. It's a multiple of five too, so that means there will be lots of water. I just hope it's drinkable... And it's a multiple of three, so there will be mountains too. I have the worst luck in the history of... Ever.

So basically, the only things I don't have to worry about are sand, and canyons. Great... But I'm supposed to be prepared for pretty much every other type of environment. Awesome. This is great. Just great.

I played the tape again.

"Thank you, and have a Happy Hunger Games!" She said with an evil smile.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the next tape. This one wasn't labeled either. Great another surprise.

I watched as it started playing. A picture flickered on the television. I didn't recognize the person. The television proclaimed him to be Marius Recantar. I still had no idea who he was. Which was strange because I'm the one who actually pays attention in school.

He turned out to be some regular district person. He was talking about how he had nothing to do with the Rebellion. After thirty seconds, the large words 'Executed' came up. I shuddered.

After this kind of thing continued for about two minutes, I turned it off. I was sick of seeing fellow Panem citizens who were executed.

I sat there in silence looking through the labeled tapes. I came across one that read 'The 210th Hunger Games' Interested, I put it in the television.

A man whom I recognized as the head gamemaker for this year appeared on the screen.

"This year we have a huge amount of things planned. One, is the vast arena."

The screen switched to a large map. I tried to memorize it as well as I could.

The middle section lit up as he spoke.

"This is where the tributes will be dropped. The cornucopia is in the middle of this area." An arrow appeared on the screen pointing toward the center. The screen zoomed in to where the arrow was pointing. It showed me the actual cornucopia and the tribute plates. Along with what's in it and the labels of where the tributes will be... I looked for where the district eleven girl stands. When I found it, my heart dropped. It was right in the middle of everything. There's no way I'm getting out of there without either killing or being killed if I'm going to go through with my plan of grabbing whatever I can and then running.

"The cornucopia will hold both weapons and food. We expect the career pack to end up setting up camp here, so we've left it untouched by booby traps considering the fact that these are the people who cause the most excitement for the viewers. The rest of the arena however will not be quite so lucky."

Wait, that's no fair! My mind was racing as I thought about camping nearby. Would they figure out I was there? And what then? It's not like I can take them down!

The map zoomed out to show the full map again. Another part was highlighted and zoomed in on. "This is the area that will have large mountains. There are treacherous rock slides, and caves with mutts in them for traps in this area. There is no source of water in this area except inside several of the caves. But to get to the water, the tributes will have to go through the mutts. Unless they're smart enough to wait for the mutt to leave to go hunting. Even then, the water will not be purified. So they will get sick and most likely die."

That was definitely good to know...

The map zoomed out again and another section was highlighted. It zoomed in again. "This area is a long expanse of forest. Little light will shine through so it will be difficult to see other people. We have this area rigged with trip lines that set off knives being thrown. It might not kill anyone, but it will be enjoyable for the viewers to watch the tributes freak out when they trip."

I'll make sure to watch my step there then...

The map zoomed at another area, this was a strange area, it was a lake. What's up with that?

"This is the lake area. It acts for both water, and ice. Each night it freezes randomly. It is thick enough to walk on by the time the anthem plays. You must be off the ice by the time the sun rises or it will melt, and the water will be cold. Therefore, tributes might die of hypothermia. Or others might drown. The water is not drinkable because there are fish that live in it. The fish are edible when cooked. The head is not edible because it contains a poison that can make you suffer a miserable death."

Those are definitely good things to know...

The map went back to a full image of the map. "There are a few springs that you can drink from without having to purify them. They are here, here, and here." Arrows appeared on the screen. I tried to imprint those places into my brain and go straight for it without having too much suspicion.

"This will definitely be an exciting games. Happy Hunger Games everyone."

Oh how right he is. How right he is. I shook my head and smiled to myself.

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><p><strong>There you are! A super long chapter!<strong>

**I hope you enjoyed it! Can't wait for you guys to read the next one. You all get to meet the rest of the tributes! Ooh! That'll be exciting!**

**Warning you all now, you might see a pattern in the names of the tributes... My family and I had fun coming up with names, so you might see what I mean, but you might not. I'll try not to make it too obvious in the next chapter but later, I might make it super obvious in the one after that. Just for fun! :P  
><strong>


	9. Guess I'm a little Late

**Hey guys. It's me again. I know you probably are wondering about the training. Don't worry, I didn't forget about it! I just had to try to get a little more action. Okay okay... So I did forget. Everyone makes mistakes right? But It's okay people. I've got a plan! I know, surprising huh? Thanks, love you too.**

**Anyways, I've got a plan for this chapter, and it'll be perfect! You guys will just love reading it. But I'll tell you this, if Jewel were here, she'd hate me right now. So that means... Well, you can all take guesses before you read or you can just read the chapter. I don't care which though. Either one works just fine. :D**

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><p><span>Jewel POV<span>

I turned the television off and starred at the blank screen.

I put all the tapes back in the box feeling like I knew everything I needed to know for the games.

Now I knew what kind of environments to train for and- Oh my gosh! Training!

Facepalm.

Then I hurried to put everything back exactly where I found it.

I hadn't touched much, so I didn't have to put much back either.

I slowly creeped my way to the stairs and quietly made my way down to the basement where the training is held.

I took a deep breath and turned to corner so I'd be in full view of the door.

As I walked in, most people were busy training, but several people turned to stare at me. They were all wondering where I could have possibly been.

One of those people who turned? Kyle.

What great luck I have don't you think?

Anyways, as soon as I got in there, I went straight to the corner behind some equipment.

I was in the worst possible place I could imagine. Around... People.

I've always been the alone type. The one who's in the corner as far away from everyone as I could possibly be. The 'shy' one.

I'm not actually shy, I just don't like those people.

I know, I know. I'll never know whether I like someone unless I actually try to meet them.

Well, that's what happens next. I go to a corner and watch everyone. To try to figure out who's good at what, and if they're nice or not.

I looked over toward a group whom I assumed were the career pack.

It looked like one of the girls was the leader. I think I recognized her from watching the reapings on the train ride at one point. I think her name was Brenna. She had long blonde hair and brown eyes. She's beautiful, and most guys would die to be her boyfriend.

There were two other girls.

One had long black hair, and she was very tan. She looked like she was from district four because she had a swimmer's body.

The other had shoulder length red hair. She was short, but I could still tell she was a career because of the fact she wasn't super skinny like me, and she seemed to have muscles on her.

There were also three boys.

One looked really strong and wiry. He had very light brown hair. He looked strong enough to squish me with a single blow. Without a weapon...

There was a boy who seemed to get angry at almost everyone at one point. Brenna even threatened to kick him out and make him be on his own when he got mad at her. He had a buzz cut that was a deep midnight black.

The last boy longer hair than the angry boy, but shorter hair than the strong one. His hair was a dirty blonde. He seemed to be... Not quite so smart, and always happy. Even when the angry boy was yelling at him. And he seemed to think that Panem was the best thing in the world.

After further observation, I learned all their names. The one with black hair, was Zelda, and the short girl was Victoria. The angry boy with a temper, was named Oscar, the super strong boy was Xavier, and the Panem lover was named Trent.

It was pretty easy to figure out who was from district three, they both wore glasses and were in an alliance. I remembered them as Alexandra and David.

That makes eight of the twenty four.

I saw a girl walking over to the station close to me, and I slipped back into the shadows so I wouldn't be seen.

As I was pressed against the wall, I learned her name was Cassidie. Her mother was an herb healer, and she was simply brushing up on her skills of plant recognition. That must mean she's from district six, medicine.

Eventually, she got bored and left, so I was able to slip out of the shadows to see that she had long brown hair in a braid.

There were three girls on the other side of the room, and they were all talking and laughing.

One of them complained about the outfits, and seemed to do most of the talking, and had her golden hair in a nice and tight bun. I learned her name was Lorie, because one of the girls had to interrupt her because they wanted to say something.

The girl who interrupted Lorie, was very dramatic. I think she'd be a good actor. Her long wavy black hair matched the black that everyone was wearing today. She had hard black eyes. I can honestly say, that I'd never seen someone with black eyes before, but she had them. I thought I heard her name as Elise.

The last girl had a dulled red hair color, that was in pigtails. She seemed really nice and sweet. I overheard her name as Penny.

There was a boy in the corner who didn't look very happy. Actually, he looked downright gloomy. I thought I recognized him as the tribute from district six. I think his name was Isaac.

The was a boy who seemed very lethal, and cruel. He was at one of the weapons station. He was obviously not a career, but he was kinda close. I think his name was Nithaniel.

There was a girl who was big and bulky. She had a sandy blonde pixie cut. I heard the instructor call her Marcie.

Before I could try to watch another person, lunch break was called.

I waited until everyone else was gone, before I stepped out of the shadows.

I apparently miscounted, because as soon as I stepped out, I saw someone's shadow.

I shrunk back into the shadows willing myself to become invisible again.

"Hello." Said a girl's voice.

There goes that invisibility thing...

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><p><strong>Well, I introduced a little more than half the tributes. I guess I won't make the name thing obvious in the next chapter, because I haven't finished getting the names out. So maybe the chapter after that!<strong>

**Anyway, until next time! Have an awesome day!  
><strong>


	10. New Friends And Emotions?

**Alright guys, still not going to make the name thing obvious yet. I just want to finish training so that all the characters can be introduced. So not this chapter or the next chapter, or the one after that, but the one after that. So chapter 13. Ooh! Lucky number 13! *Evil grin*  
><strong>

**Everybody give a big warm welcome to our newest reader Lacrossefreak100! *This is where we all clap.*  
><strong>

**Now I shall reply to reviews:**

**SneverousSnapers: I so glad! I would love to read it if you did. Hehe, thanks for blaming Jewel and not me! Lol.**

**QueenCobraWing: Sorry about the name things, my family and I just aren't very creative... And there is something cool about the names... So you can have fun with that mystery... I'm glad you forgive me!**

**Lacrossefreak100: I'm glad you're enjoying the book, and I love to write Jewel when she get's angry personally. I'm glad you enjoy reading that part so much! Yeah, we might get to find out why Kyle stood up for her later if we're all super good about reviewing!**

**A few of you wondered what would happen if the capitol found out about her watching the tape. Well, I suppose you'll have to wait and see. _If_ they find out about it that is... Guess who controls that! That's right! You do! You can all vote yes, or no, and I'll count up the votes. The more reviews you've submitted throughout the story, the more your votes count for! So review review review!  
><strong>

Jewel POV

I opened my eyes to see Penny in front of me.

She was nice enough to everyone she met. Or at least so far...

I tentatively tried to smile and wave, and at the same time tried to get to the door without looking rude.

"I'm Penny. And you're..?" She left the question open ended.

I was totally tongue tied, so I pointed to the door and opened my mouth and barely got a few words out. "We have to go..."

Penny nodded and looked surprised. "Right right. But would you sit with Lorie, Elise, and me?" She asked politely.

I groaned internally, but nodded yes and smiled.

Penny smiled and pulled me along. "Let's go!"

I smiled to myself, thinking about what this might mean.

This could mean that I just made my first friend ever.

She brought me to a table with the other two girls already sitting there.

I waved hello, and said I had to go get my food.

I grabbed a small amount of mashed potatoes and gravy, and a biscuit.

When I sat down, Elise was the first to speak.

"So what's your name again?"

I quietly said, "Jewel." And went back to eating.

"That's all you're going to eat?" Lorie asked.

I shrugged, still not comfortable enough to actually talk yet.

She shook her head. "Okay then..." She trailed off.

I kinda just sat there and listened to them, trying to figure out if they really cared or not.

I learned that they were all thirteen, just one year older than me. That counted for something. I think...

All of a sudden, Lorie, the talkative one, snapped me out of my thought. "Hello? Jewel?"

My head snapped up. "Sorry... What was that?" I asked embarrassed.

They all smiled and laughed a little. Lorie spoke up again. "We were wondering if you wanted to be in an allience with us."

I froze cold right there. I pretended to think about it while I freaked out inside.

So... How was I supposed to tell them that I knew what the arena was, and what areas were trapped..? You guessed it! I can't.

Why not? Because they'd think I was insane if I did that!

And after that, I'd lose the only friends I'd ever had.

So that left me with the exact same question. Do I join their alliance or not?

My mind was racing with possibilities of what could happen. And there were a lot of them!

I could say no, because I didn't want to get close to someone just to see them die.

I could say yes, and then get 'Lost' one day.

I could say yes and just kinda lead them in the right direction.

I could simply say no and let them wonder why.

I could say no and risk them totally getting mad at me, and making an enemy before I even got in the arena.

Or there was always running and hiding again... And look how well that worked out last time...

I sighed. "Um..." I looked between their hopeful expressions. I'd always done everything I could to make everyone else happy, never myself. Seeing their expressions made my heart ache. "I guess so... I just don't want to have to see any of us die." I looked down hoping they'd rethink being in an allience with me.

Elise shrugged. "I suppose, but I mean, there's always worse. Like... Being chained up and watching your best friend from your district dangling above toxic waste..."

My breath caught in my throat for at least ten seconds before I could finally speak. "Yeah. I guess so."

Sadly, I hadn't masked the look of shock and sadness when she said that, so Penny had noticed. "What's wrong Jewel? Are you okay?"

I nodded quickly pulling myself together. No need to make them all feel bad for me. No need to make them worry about something as unimportant as me. No need to make them try to get me to talk about it later.

Elise wasn't going to let it go easily though. "Seriously Jewel. What's wrong? What did I say? Did you think about something? About your best friend?"

For the first time in at least five years, I shed a tear in front of other people. It was only one, but it shattered my record, and there was no going back now.

Penny became alarmed. "Jewel! What's wrong!"

I shook my head. "It's not that big a deal. Just that I don't have a best friend at home. So I can't watch my best friend dangling above toxic waste." I said. I shook my head. It's okay though." I wiped the tear away and smiled.

Penny was obviously horrified. And Elise was being dramatic as usual, and she was very upset too. And Lorie was not different.

"I'm so sorry Jewel. I had no idea! Can you forgive me! Elise asked.

I nodded. "Of course. No harm done. It's totally fine."

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><p><strong>Okay, so I finished the chapter. I can't wait to see what you all thought of this chapter. Jewel is actually showing a little bit of REAL emotion, instead of the fake kind she was showing earlier about being all happy. Because we all know that Jewel isn't happy, and if you didn't know that, I suggest you reread the story from the beginning.<strong>

**Anyways, don't forget to vote in your review! Should the capitol find out about Jewel seeing the tape? Or not? If you think they should find out, write yes, and if you don't write no. But don't forget to do the rest of the review too!**

**Peace out peoples!  
><strong>


	11. A Day of Surprises

**I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated, summer is the busiest time of year for me, you can ask my sister ScarletDaydreamer.**

**Anyway, I'm putting up two chapters today, the first one is this one, and the title is probably making you curious. I'll get to that in a second, first I'm going to reply to reviews!**

**SneverusSnapers: Hehe, I don't know what I'm going to do with her alliance yet, but I'll take your opinion into consideration. It was totally your choice to vote or not. the reason I put it out there is because I wasn't sure which way I was going to go. I had ideas for both, so I let the readers decide. You didn't have to vote if you didn't want to. I'm glad you like it! I totally understand about being busy. My schedule is insane right now, I'm either skating, in the car, at my cabin, or have friends begging me to find time to hang out. :P It gets really stressful.**

**QueenCobraWing: My hint is to think of the songs you learned in pre school. I know that makes no sense at the moment, but once you get it, you'll be like OOOHHHH. Also, think of the equation 26-2=The number of tributes. I thought the same thing about making friends. I'm happy to hear someone has faith in her, because she obviously doesn't... But remember, as I show in this chapter, I can change the POV at anytime. I hadn't thought about whether Elise spoke from experience. Gosh, this is why I love having reviewers, because they make me think deeper into my stories. I love that! Keep it up!**

**She'sALady-SoTreatHerLikeOne: Hmm, awesome idea! I think you're on to something... I might change it a little bit, but that's good! Keep up the good work!**

**And uh... No name...: I'm glad you like the story, I've been working very hard on it. I'm sorry I didn't update soon but as I told SneverusSnapers, my schedule is insane right now. I'm taking everyone's ideas into consideration, and I'm not going to do exactly what anyone's idea is, but I'll probably combine a lot of them, and then put my own twist on it.**

**By the way, I didn't edit this chapter, so there are lots of mistakes. I was just trying to get it up asap.**

**Okay done with that. Now for those of you who peaked ahead, I should explain who the heck Yumako Daquip is. Yamako is one of the capitol Gamemakers. She is not the head Gamemaker, but she is one of them.**

**Okay, anyway, I'm going to write now...**

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><p><span>Yumako Daquip<span>

Those little brats!

We just found out that one of them found the thirteenth floor.

They're gonna figure something out one of these days if we keep letting them get away with this stuff.

The thirteenth floor is laid out the same as the other twelve floors because we didn't know we were going to blow district thirteen up.

You see, back before the Rebellion, we had already come up with the Hunger Games. We were just waiting for the districts to mess up. After a few years of waiting, the Rebellion started, and it went further than we thought it would. District Thirteen was no more and we had an extra floor. We remodeled the building while we 'came up with the punishment' to make it so that you have to find the staircase to get to the thirteenth floor. We thought we hid the staircase well, but apparently not well enough.

"So what's the plan? How do we make the little brats pay for this?" I asked aloud the question I knew everyone was wondering.

The head game maker Qasim Simar thought about it for a moment, and finally replied, "First we give them a change to admit to it. We'll tell them if they admit to it, then we will let them off easy, even though we won't. If no one admits to it, we will punish everyone. We will brainstorm ideas to punish them with. Whoever has the best idea will become second in line to be head Gamemaker once I resign. Any questions?"

The room was silent.

"Alright then. Meet back here tomorrow at three. We confront them tomorrow after training." Qasim said. "Dismissed."

Everyone stood, stepped behind their chair, pushed it in and turned at the exact same time.

We had practiced this at least thirty times before Qasim was happy with it. It wasn't something I would call "time spent well" but Qasim was annoyed with how it looked unorganized when we all stood up at different times.

After that, whenever we were dismissed, we were to do it at the same time, otherwise, he'd make us do it again. I'm not even kidding. It was really annoying...

I walked to my room and thought about what Qasim had said.

If I come up with good torture, then I could be head gamemaker someday!

I had to start brainstorming. I had to come up with something never done before. Something totally new...

Jewel POV

"It's okay Elise, calm down! I know you didn't mean anything by it, it's fine!"

Elise nodded. "If you're sure..."

"I am, trust me." I hated it when I was the center of attention... So I tried to change it to be someone else instead. "So what's our plan in the arena anyway...?"

They all thought about it for a second.

Penny finally spoke up. "I suppose that was our next conversation huh?"

Lorie jumped right into the new subject. "Well I think we should just run at the cornucopia instead of trying to grab stuff. It'll just make things difficult and we'll probably end up one person less. So we just have to run to the edge and try to meet up with each other. Are you guys fast sprinters?" She said in one breath.

I nodded. "I guess I am..." Okay, so I know I am faster than most people, but it really isn't that fast. I mean, it's not like I'm Olympic speed or anything.

Penny replied next. "I'm not fast by any means, but I'm not the slowest in the district..." She shrugged.

"Well I'm not as fast as a panther or anything, but I'm faster than a turtle." Lorie said.

Elise nodded. "I'm average too."

"Alright, what about all you're strengths?" Elise asked us.

"Making fire and recognizing plants." Penny said right away.

"Um, long distance running and I have a good memory." Lorie said.

"Well I'm a good scavenger, and I can use a knife pretty well." Elise told us.

They all looked at me expectantly. Have I told you how much I hate attention yet? I have? Oh, okay, well it's true. "Um..." I tried to think of something I was good at. But everything I thought of, there was always someone better than me at it. "I'm good at..." I was trying to think of something, I really was, but when you have no self esteem, that becomes a pretty tough thing to do.

"Come on Jewel, everyone's good at something!" Penny urged.

But I'm not. "Well, I'm not particularly good at anything, but I'm okay at somethings." I shrugged and looked down hoping they'd let me stop there.

No such luck.

"Then what are you okay at?" Elise said obviously still feeling bad about earlier.

"Um... I'm pretty good at running like I said before, and I'm good at making do with what I have." I shrugged. Now please let me stop talking!

For once in my life, things went my way and they moved on.

"Okay, what about you're weaknesses?" Elise said.

I almost laughed without humor. My weaknesses? I could go on for days talking about them. Maybe they'll finally realize that I'm no help in an alliance and that they should just kick me out or something. I would have to see.

"Well I for one, have like, no strength what so ever, and I can't aim anything for my life." Elise said when no one spoke up.

"I can't throw, and I can't tell poisonous and non poisonous plants apart." Penny said.

"And I am afraid of heights and I barely ever eat meat. But I suppose I'll have to in the arena because I don't think the gamemakers will have a vegetarian friendly arena." Lorie said.

They all looked at me. I took a deep breath. Come on Jewel, out with it. They deserve to know what they've gotten themselves into...

"Well, I probably won't be able to kill anyone. For several reasons, I couldn't stand watching their face, and I have no strength at all. I can't fight at all, last time I tried I ended up with a broken arm, and the person went easy on me. If I was attacked, I probably wouldn't put up a whole lot of resistance because I'd rather get the pain over with and maybe they'd make it quick." And because I'm suicidal. I didn't add that part though. "And a whole lot more."

They all stared at each other with wide eyes. They turned to each other and started whispering to each other not facing me. They were just loud enough so I could hear them, but I couldn't make out who was saying what.

"Okay, I don't think we can afford to have her in our alliance, she might be the death of us all."

"Yeah, but the poor girl is even younger than us."

"So? This is the Hunger Games. The capitol takes no mercy."

"Okay, now you;re just being cruel. The poor girl has obviously been through a lot. When she talks she sounds like she's thirty with the words she chooses. She's obviously been forced to grow up quickly."

"That's not our problem though!"

"Who cares. I mean, look at her. She obviously comes from a poor family."

"Yeah, and we can't just leave her defenseless..."

I spoke up. "Yes you can."

They turned to me in shock as though they didn't realize I could hear them. Oh give me a break. You're five feet from me. And I have good hearing. What do they expect?

"I mean, I'll just hold you guys back. So... I'm going to let you guys be in an alliance without me. I mean, I don't want you guys getting killed because of me..." Without another word, I grabbed my tray and left to the corner of the room to eat.

"You guys can go back to training when you finish eating." A tall man said.

As soon as he finished speaking, a large group of people left. Including the three girls I had formerly been in an alliance with. I didn't watch them as they left knowing that they would feel worse if I did.

I kinda just moved the rest of my food around my plate with my fork when I finished eating. I wasn't ready to go train yet.

When I looked up there were only two more tributes in the room. Kyle, and a boy I didn't recognize. I think his name was Waldo or something. But I wasn't sure.

Eventually Waldo left, and that left just me and Kyle in the room.

Kyle got up after a few minutes, but his footsteps didn't go toward the door, they went toward me. I sighed. This wasn't going to be good...

"Look Jewel, I know you hate me." He said.

Hah. No duh jerk.

"But you gotta listen to me when I say this." He pleaded.

Who is he to tell me what I have to listen to and what I don't have to listen to? "What?" I asked as I turned to him.

"I was a jerk."

Obviously...

"But I didn't mean it. I was too stupid to realize it back then though. I regret everything I did and I want you to forgive me. Could you do that?"

I thought about that for a second, and I took a deep breath. Let's see here. He's made fun of me, practically ruined my life, and... And he stood up for me.

But it was one time...

I looked over at him, his eyes pleading in a way that isn't possible if he were lying. Gosh, I can never say no to anyone no matter what they've done to me can I?

I sighed. "Yeah. I can." I said as I looked down at my food.

Kyle walked over and sat next to me. "I know before we both decided we didn't want to be allies. Is there any way that's changed?"

I thought about it. It might be nice to have an ally. But the same question as before popped into my head.

How do I be his ally when I know what the arena is?

I decided to go for it. If I'm not going to be killing anyone, and I'm not, then I'm going to need someone who will be.

"Yeah it has."

He gave me an awkard one armed hug. "Thanks Jewel."

I nodded. But there were so many questions I wanted to ask him. But I hate talking. But some of them were important.

Hmm. Talk, or forever more be confused and never have the questions answered because one of us will die?

I decided that I could talk for one day I suppose.

"Why are you thanking me?"

Kyle seemed to think about it for a minute. "The truth?"

I nodded. Obviously... Why would I ask a question but want a lie?

"Well, I've always hated watching people make fun of you." What does this have to do with thanking me? "And I've only had the guts to stand up for you once. And I want to make up for that. So I want to help you in the Games. But it would have been difficult if we weren't allies."

I thought back to that one day, how he really seemed to care. It was a day of the past, but it was an important one to me.

I nodded. "How come you stood up for me that one day?"

"Um... Well I guess I've always kind of thought of you as a little sister of sorts. I mean, you were never mean to anyone, but you get made fun of all day. It just didn't seem fair. So one day I was walking by in the hall and I saw those girls bullying you, and I decided to step in for a change."

"But you pretty much knew that by doing so, you'd lose your whole reputation." I stated. This was so confusing to me. He had twisted logic.

He shrugged. "I guess I didn't care. I couldn't let someone hurt you. Like I told you earlier, I always thought of you as a little sister."

I laghed once without humor.

"What?"

I looked up at him. "Chloe always had a crush on you. I had figured you guys would end up getting married since you were the most popular boy, and she was the most popular girl." I shrugged. "Then I would be your little sister in law."

He smiled.

I added quickly before he got any ideas. "Um, but don't marry Chloe. She's not the nicest person out there. She may be popular and pretty, but she's really hard to live with..." I thought back to all the arguments we've had, and all the door slams, and the hours I spent locked in my room so no one could even talk to me.

He gave me another one armed hug. "Okay Jewel. I won't."

I noded.

"Let's go finish training." He said.

I nodded and got up. I was walking over to my corner again, but he put his hand on my shoulder. "Where are you going?"

Now that we were around people, I didn't plan on talking. I pointed to the corner.

"Why?"

I could make a sign saying, I want to be invisible, so I just shrugged.

He sighed obviously trying to decide whether he should let me go or not. In his hesitation, I used it to my advantage to sneak out from under his arm and quickly jog over to the corner.

I got situated in the corner and continued watching the room as everyone trained.

But apperently Kyle wasn't going to let me get away with that.

He walked over and sat next to me. "What are you doing?" He asked in a way that didn't seem harsh and demanding, but sounded more curious.

I sighed. "I'm watching."

He rolled his eyes. "Well I knew that."

"Then why did you ask?" I smiled at him. Okay, maybe it wasn't a smile, but it was the biggest smile I've done in about five years.

He laughed and sat down next to me watching.

He got visably bored and turned to me after a while. "Well I'm gonna go check some stations out. See you later Jewel!" He smiled and I waved goodbye to him.

I looked around and found a boy around fourteen or fifteen, and he was... Well. Let's just say he was different. Let's see here, how do I put this... He was... A little off. Yeah, that's it. WHen he turned around, I recognized him as Fred from District Twelve. He had as much a chance as I did... Which wasn't very high in case you hadn't noticed.

I looked around and found a guy who had brown hair. I think his name was Quincy. He was definately an outdoors type person. He had a tan, which showed he was in the sun a lot.

I saw a girl walking past him, and she was wearing some tall, dirty boots. She had a very slight bowlegged walk that not many people would notice. She was obviously someone who spent most of her time on a horse. I heard her introduce herself to the instructor as Rachel.

I looked over toward the first aid station, and saw someone there. Well, not really there. He wasn't _at_ the station, just... Around it. But I barely noticed him. When he turned toward me, I automatically recognized him as Waldo, the boy who wore a red and white striped shirt and blue pants at his reaping. I'm not sure how I remembered that, but it seemed like a defining part of him.

I was missing one more girl... Let's see. Ah there she is.

She was tall, skinny, and obviously weak. She obviously didn't get fed very well, and never had to build muscle. I heard her say her name was Samantha.

Okay, two left...

There was a short boy at the track. Okay, not as short as me, but still short. He was really slow, and I could easily out run him. Anyway, he was obviously my age, and I remember his name being Greg.

Okay, last one.

Oh! There he is!

How did I miss him? He's huge! I mean like... HUGE!

Alright, I probably skipped by him thinking I had already figured him out with the careers, but he's not a career. He may be big, but he's not career skilled. I mean, don't get me wrong, he's good, but he obviously hasn't trained. Anyway, I immediantly recognized him as the big scary guy from district seven. His name was Hewrman. I remember that only because I never wanted to get close to him if I could help it.

Okay, now that I figured out all the tributes, it's time to train.

I looked around and gulped. I was not looking forward to this...

I looked around and decided maybe the weapons. I mean, yeah I'd probably be made fun of, and yeah, people would try to talk to me but... I needed some way to protect myself.

I walked over to the knives and picked one up.

As I weighed it in my hsnds to get a feel for it, I could feel the eyes boring into me. Lots of the tributes here were watching me. Because I was small, and because I was an easy target. And because they were probably wondering where I had been all day...

I swallowed with difficulty and decided that throwing the knives would be the best idea since if I was in close range, I'd be crushed and I'd be a goner for sure.

I took a deep breath and aimed for the target. Keep in mind I'd never thrown anything besides a ball and my life, and I hadn't even done that in at least five years.

I threw the knife as hard as I could, hoping the speed will make up for the fact that it might not even hit the target.

I closed my eyes after it left my hands because I was afraid to watch.

Half a second after it left my hands, I heard a collective gasp around me.

I opened one eye slightly to see before me... The knife was thrown so hard, the blade was completely in the wood. As in, no blade visable, just the handle.

My eyes widened as I took in the sight and found that the knife was not at the bulls eye, but the ring around that.

I walked up to the target, and just stared at it for a second. After getting over my initial shock, I started to pull at the knife.

Unfortionately, I am the weakest person I have ever met, and I couldn't get it more that an inch out of the wood.

I sighed and blushed, but kept facing the target.

I heard a thump on the target next to me.

I looked over. Who ever threw it got a bulls eye. If I had to guess, it was probably a career.

I kept my eyes on my target, but my presance was obvious anyway, and as the girl walked up she looked over at me after grabbing her knife.

It was Victoria.

She smirked at me and raised her eyebrows. "What, you aren't going to take the knife out?"

The way she was looking at me, she had obviously seen me try to take it out. She knew I tried, but failed.

I blushed and whispered, "Can't." I looked down embarrassed waiting for her to laugh and make fun of me.

She did. "What, little twelve year old can't pull a knife out of wood?" She laughed and walked up to my kinfe and pulled on it.

The weird part? It didn't come out.

I stoped myself from smirking and making a snide comment. That wouldn't get me anywhere. It would make things worse.

Unfortonately, the room was filled with several people's laughter.

I looked down and had already anticipated Victoria's response before it happened.

Victoria stomped away in exhasperation.

I had a feeling I was at the top of her "To Kill" list.

I just walked away from the station and went into a corner never to be noticed for the rest of the day.

After Victoria's failure, every career had to try. It never did come out...

I wasn't going to be the quiet invisible one anymore was I?

The bell rung signaling the end of training day. I waited until everyone was out before coming out of my hiding spot.

Everyone else had left on and elevator to go to their floor.

I got in one and pressed the number eleven.

After the doors opened, I saw everyone standing there waiting for me smiling. Obviously Kyle had told them what happened.

I panicked. I admit it. I did. I haven't panicked since I was caught trying to commint suicide in fourth grade!

I ran. I ran with all my might into my room, shut the door, and locked it.

I leaned against the door and slid down to the floor.

I put my head between my knees and tried to ignore the people pounding on the door and screaming at me to come out.

After about, fifteen minutes they finally gave up. The last thing anyone told me was that dinner was at six.

I wasn't going.

In fact, I was going to bed right now. I wasn't hungry, and I just needed to relax.

So I crawled into bed, and turned out the lights. And then, I was staring at the knife in the target.

Thankfully, somehow I knew it was a dream.

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><p><strong>Done! That took forever to write, but it's done. Sorry about the wait, but like I said at the begginging, I've been really stressed and busy.<strong>

**Not sure how often the updates will be, I'm just trying my best to write at all as it is.**

**No promises besides one: I will finish this story. I don't know whether I'll be thirty by the time I finish it, but I will finish it.**

**Okay, I'm exadurating. Not thirty, more like one more year until the end.**

**Okay, I really have to go or my parents are going to kill me. Bye!**

**And don't forget to review!**


	12. Punishments and Confusion

**As most of you have already figured out by now, I was a big fat liar, and did not post two chapters in one day. As I had said, I hadn't edited the chapter so I didn't realize I put it in there. And I had been working on the chapter for about a month and a half.**

**Now that I've cleared that up. Time to reply to the awesome things called reviews that just make my day!**

**QueenCobraWing: Thanks! I missed writing! Right right. I know I can't torture them. I was thinking somewhere along the lines of torturing them when they're in the arena. But you know, now that you say that, this has my brain full of ideas... Thanks! And yes, Victoria is from District 2. She is a career, so I try to make her as hated as possible. I am excited to see what will become of her, because I have just as much idea as you do. i just write when it comes to me. :P**

**Lollipop Dreams: Thanks! I make it extra long because of the wait. Glad you enjoyed it!**

**SneverusSnapers: Ha ha, I did not, so thank you for telling me that! It makes me feel really good and it makes me want to write faster! :P I'm excited to see people reading my story, so thank you for reviewing and stuff. It makes me happy.**

**Okay, now I'm gonna write.**

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><p><span>Yumako Daquip POV<span>

"Who came up with an idea?" Qasim Simar asked the group.

I had, but I wasn't gonna go first.

"Torture their loved ones?" Julio asked.

"We do that anyway..." I said.

"Fine! Then do you have a better idea?" Julio asked me.

"Actually I do. How about we do like, three things, that together, cause indescribable pain. One, is physical pain, another is emotional pain, and the last one, causes both?" I propose.

The gamemakers all thought about it for a second. It was silent and I was starting to get nervous.

All of a sudden Qasim broke the silence. "Brilliant! That's what we'll do! And Yumako, that means once I resign from Head Gamemaker, you are then in charge."

I smiled to myself. I could barely contain my happiness.

Qasim continued, "Now, we just have to tell them at lunch today."

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><p><span>Jewel POV<span>

I was interrupted several times that night, waking up for all kinds of different reasons. Waking up to pounding on my door, - which I ignored - nightmares that felt too real, hunger, - which honestly doesn't happen very often... - and even just randomly.

Finally I got fed up with waking up and going back to sleep only to wake up yet again about an hour later, that I just got up and took a shower.

By the end of my shower, I smelled like strawberries and lemons.

I got dressed and found that it was still dark out. Great.

The clock said it was 4:08 in the morning. I sighed.

I thought about what to do to pass the time. I could sing, hum or write.

I sighed and decided that I'd sing.

I sung my go to song that I always sung when I just wanted to sing. I didn't know what it was called, all I knew was that it had been passed down since before Panem was here.

I hummed the intro and then sung my heart out.

"Grew up in a small town, and when the rain would fall down, I'd just stare out my window. Dreaming of what could be, and if I'd end up happy, I would pray. Trying hard to reach out, but when I tried to speak out, felt like no one could hear me. Wanted to belong here, but something felt so wrong here, so I prayed. I could break away. I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly. I'll do what it takes, until I touch the sky, and I'll. Make a wish, take a chance, make a change. And break away. Out of the darkness and into the sun. But I won't forget all the ones that I love, I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change. And break away. Wanna feel the warm breeze. Sleep under a palm tree. Feel the rush of the ocean. Get on board a fast train, travel on a jet plane, far away. And I'll breakaway. I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly, I'll do what it takes, until I touch the sky and I'll, make a wish, take a chance, make a change. And breakaway. Out of the darkness and into the sun, but I won't forget all the ones that I love, I'll, make a wish, take a chance, make a change. And breakaway. Buildings with a hundred floors. Swinging around revolving doors. Maybe I I don't know where they'll take me, but I gotta keep moving on, moving on. Fly away. Break away. I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly. I'll do what it takes, until I touch the sky, and I'll, make a wish take a chance, make a change, and breakaway. Out of the darkness and into the sun. But I won't forget all the ones that I love. I'll make a wish take a chance, make a change. And breakaway. Breakaway. Breakaway."

Apparently, I sang a little too loud and with a little too much passion, because about forty five seconds later, I heard a tentative knock on my door.

If I had to guess at who it was, I'd guess it was Kyle.

I looked through the peep hole to learn that I was right.

"Jewel? Was that you?"

I sighed and opened the door slowly as though I was bracing myself for death.

I partially hid myself behind the door and peaked my head out. "Yeah, it was..."

"It sounded really good. Um... Can I come in?"

As my answer, I just opened the door further and walked over to my bed to sit down.

Kyle followed suit and sat down not quite next to me, or opposite me, but somewhere between the two.

"You alright?" Kyle asked sincerely.

My first reaction was to say yeah and pretend everything was fine and dandy, but when I thought about it, I really didn't want to pretend like I was superwoman and nothing could hurt me in the last week of my life. I mean, it was both physically and mentally exhausting!

But did I want to be all emotional with Kyle?

Tough choice.

"No. I'm not alright." I mumbled.

When it came down to it, I figured I should do what's best for me at least once before I die.

And this would be that one time.

Somehow me managed to hear me and after slight hesitation, he came closer to me and gave me a hug.

Strangely enough, I hugged back.

It wasn't in a romantic way obviously, more like... He was being a big brother for me way.

I closed my eyes and - most shockingly of all - I released my emotions so they didn't stay bottled up inside of me anymore.

I wasn't crying, but I was letting the emotions go.

Five years worth of emotions came flooding out of me like caged birds released into the wild.

It took such a huge weight off my shoulders, that I felt like I weighed two pounds.

Kyle seemed to understand that now was not the time to ask questions, but to stay silent.

He pulled me into his lap, and kept his arms around me.

He rested his cheek on the top of my head while I rested mine on his chest.

After a few minutes of sitting there in silence, I murmured a thank you and I could feel him nod his head.

"Anytime Jewel. Anytime."

We sat in silence for a long time until I voiced one of my fears.

"Did Victoria look as mad to you as she did to me? Do you think she's going to try and kill me first? I bet it'll be a slow, painful death. Gosh, I wanted to die quickly, like the girl tribute from last year. She looked really good with all the weapons, especially the sword. Do you think she;ll use a sword on me? Swords can have really slow-" I rambled before I was cut off.

"Shh Jewel, now is not the time to worry about it. In fact, never is the time to worry about it. Just live in the moment. Right here, right now. Not yesterday, or this afternoon. Right now." Kyle said calmly.

I found several loopholes in that, but I let it go and tried to let him calm me.

He rubbed soothing patterns on my back, and we sat there in silence.

I don't know exactly how much later it was, but eventually I fell asleep in his arms. I woke up to Kyle whispering to me.

"Deeana is going to come wake us up soon."

I opened my eyes to find that we were in the same position from earlier. By now, the sun had risen, so Kyle was right. Deeana would be waking us up soon.

I rolled off his lap and he got up and left without another word.

I decided to go brush my hair the way we did back in district eleven because it took more time and I had nothing to do but wait.

Sure enough about three minutes later, there was Deeana with her blue hair and all.

"Jewel! Time to get up for training! Go show those careers just how good with knives you are!" Deeana yelled through the door excitedly.

I groaned remembering just how mad Victoria was.

I swear I heard Deeana laughing as she walked away, but then again, I already figured I wasn't normal, so maybe I was hearing things now.

I had already showered this morning, so I walked straight out of my room and was the first to the dining room which wasn't much of a surprise.

I grabbed two pieces of golden brown bread they called toast which we didn't have in district eleven, and a glass of orange juice which I _had _tried before.

I nibbled a few bites of my toast but I mostly just sipped my orange juice, and I had finished my glass and gotten more by the time Deeana got here.

Again, she was flustered by the fact that she wasn't first, but she recovered quickly and got some food and started talking about something insignificant, but I pretended to care and nodded at the tight times.

Tellia was the next to arrive and she just got food and sat down quietly.

About thirty seconds later Kyle walked in, grabbed food and sat next to me which was probably a surprise to the others at the table.

As soon as he sat down with his breakfast, Tellia started talking.

"Alright, down to business. Jewel, what's this about knives?"

I looked down. Did we really _have _to start with this? I sighed.

Kyle took the hint and spoke for me because obviously I didn't want to tell the story.

"Jewel found out she has a pretty good aim and a really strong arm. What happened was Jewel walked over to the knife throwing station and nervously threw her knife. The loud thump made the careers turn around to see what happened and they see Jewel's throw. Jewel didn't quite get a bull's eye, but the ring around it. Anyway, Jewel went to pull the knife out of the wood but it was in so deep she couldn't get it. One of the careers-" He started but I cut him off.

"Victoria." I said quietly.

"Right, Victoria. She laughed and threw her own knife and got a bulls eye. She came over took out her knife and laughed at Jewel. I don't know exactly what they said but then she went to take Jewel's knife out for her but like Jewel failed when she tried to take it out. And Jewel being Jewel, hid behind some mats and throughout the rest of training, the careers tried to pull it out."

"Did they ever get it out?" Tellia asked.

Kyle stayed silent. Apparently he wanted me to answer this one.

I shook my head hoping they wouldn't actually make me talk.

Tellia nodded. "Alright Jewel. You have two choices: You can stay away from knives from now of, _or_ and I strongly suggest the second one, you can train with the knives and learn to use them properly so that you have a fighting chance to protect yourself in the arena."

I sighed and looked up at her. "So pretty much you're saying 'Go learn how to use knives' right?"

"If you want to think about it that way, then yes."

I sighed and nodded. I figured there was no way I was going o win this argument no matter how hard I tried.

I just took another tiny bite of toast.

"Okay, what's you plan for training today? Jewel we already know some of yours, Kyle, we know none of yours." Tellia stated.

Kyle went first knowing I obviously didn't want to go first. "I'm thinking I figure out what weapon I am naturally good at. Practice that for a while and then go brush up on the survival stuff I learned yesterday."

Tellia nodded. "Jewel?"

I sighed. Okay, how do I state this with as little words as possible? "Knives, archery, and survival." Four words. Not bad.

Tellia nodded again. "Want to elaborate?"

Crap. "Not really..."

Tellia rolled her eyes. "Just elaborate Jewel."

I sighed. "Learn the knives, like you said. Have archery as a back up, and go over the things I learned yesterday, maybe go to the climbing station to brush up." Dang that was a long explanation.

Tellia nodded. Apparently she was satisfied with that. "Alright, training starts in ten, go get on the elevator, and train."

We nodded and got up and walked to the elevator.

Once the elevator closed I gave Kyle a quick hug because I needed the reassurance. He hugged me back and told me everything was going to be fine today.

I nodded and let go and two seconds later the elevator doors opened and we walked out to find we weren't the first people there even though we were eight minutes early.

The trainers told us all to start anyway so I went to the knives before everyone got here.

The first thing I noticed is there was a brand new target where I had thrown the knife.

The trainer was happy to take me after seeing my throw yesterday. He told me how I hadn't held the knife correctly yesterday which did make it a whole lot easier to throw, and then taught me some hand to hand combat. I already knew I was going to suck but I didn't think I was going to suck this bad! I was down in about fifteen seconds flat.

The trainer had me continue trying while he obviously was trying to figure out how to help me. Even though he was distracted, I still lost, but now I went thirty seconds without going down. I doubled my time!

Eventually he decided to teach me how to use my size and lack of strength to my advantage. It took a while, but when he went easy on me, I was able to win. After about half an hour I could get him down on medium. I really think it was because he was getting tired and I had pretty good stamina.

Anyway, after a while I figured it was good enough. I knew a few tricks, and I could now get a bulls eye.

So I left the station and went to the edible plants which I was already pretty good at.

They tested me and I got twenty four out of twenty seven. It may sound good, but one false move and I could die. Although I'll probably die anyways, but still. I fixed the last three and the trainer gave me a few more tips. I nodded and went to the climbing station to make sure I still had it down well.

As I made my way to the statiobn, I found that Kyle was really good at archery. No bulls eyes yet, but the trainer hadn't come over to him yet.

I got to the climbing station and went straight to the tallest one.

It was easy just like I had expected.

What I hadn't expected was the amazing view from up there.

Victoria was at sowards, Kyle was at archery now working with the trainer, and everyone else was working hard. Minus one.

Where's Waldo?

I hadn't even realized I was leaning to get a better view until I was dropping to the ground.

I landed hard with a loud smack. I refused to cry, or scream or whatever which was difficult because that climb was almost as tall as the ceiling and it was a really tall ceiling.

I wasn't like a ten foot drop, or a fifteen foot drop. It was like a twenty five foot drop. And I'm not even exadurating. If anything, it might even be taller.

Victoria and the rest of the careers were cracking up, Penny Elise and Lorie were wide eyed and open mouthed, some of the other tributes were just barely covering up their laughter and Kyle... wait, where did Kyle go? I thought he was at archery...

"Are you okay Jewel?

Oh, he's right here.

Here kneeled down in front of me, and I nodded. :I'll be fine." I stood up despite the fact I'd probably sprained my ankle, or worse, broke a bone, but I still managed to keep a straight face. Thankfully I'd had practice at keeping a straight face before.

I went straight to where I was going next.

The tallest climb. Again. I was going to reclimb it because if I'm not happy with what I do, I make myself do it again.

I climbed up to the top and back down without drawing too much attention to myself.

Well, a lot of people looked at me like I was insane because I was reclimbing it, while a few payed no attention at all.

The trainer had left Kyle, and was now with Nithaniel.

I figured now would be a pretty good time to go over and try my hand at archery. How bad could I be at it?

So I walked over and set up my shot.

When I let it go, there was a muted thump on the fabric behind the target.

I missed. Awesome.

I lined up my shot again, and right before I was about to let go and shoot again when I felt arms come around me.

I jumped slightly and just happened to shift my weight onto my left foot and winced slightly as I craned my head around to find that it was Kyle who had his arms around me and his hands were over mine.

"Here, you want to pull it back a little further, and also, you're aiming really high." He said as he fixed my shot. "And... Release."

I did as he said and the arrow not only hit the target, but got a bulls eye.

Woah...

He let me go. "Just like that. Try one time yourself now."

I did so and I barely hit the target. I sighed.

"Well that's a good start! You'll get it Jewel. Don't worry about it." He reassured me.

"Maybe you can do the archery, and I'll find something else I'm good with." I suggested.

He nodded. "Fair enough."

I pivoted on the ball of my foot and walked over to look through all the weapon stations. Alone in a corner, was a simple fold up fan. On each side of it were weapons though, so it must be a weapon.

No one was over there though, no tribute at all. They must have thought it looked stupid. But, me, I was curious. So I walked over to it and asked the trainer to show me how to use it. He did so and by the end, I had a pretty good knowledge of it, and I had learned it was called a Tessen.

My ankle was in pain from all the moving around and shifting of weight I was doing, but at the moment, I didn't really care. If I broke it, then I'd set the bone back at my room later.

I felt pretty confident with the tessen, and I had a feeling that had to do with the size of the object. Tiny. It might also be in part that I was coordinated and using the weapon was a lot like dancing, which for some reason always came easy to me.

There was a problem with it though. It was made of pure steel. Therefore, it was heavy. Yes I could manuver it fine and such, but the problem would be carrying it around. It was so heavy, I was about an eighth slower than usual when running with it. But thankfully, I was still much faster than the average person.

Anyway, I had learned several was to block attacks as well as deliver my own. Strangely enough, the trainer said I had picked it up better than any other tribute he'd ever taught.

I glanced behind him and I saw a pole that was in three sections. Each section of wood was connected to form a line with metal chains. "What's that?" I inquired upon seeing it.

He turned and saw the strange pole and replied simply. "It's a three sectioned pole."

"How does it work?" I pressed.

He set the tessen down and walked over to the strange pole. "I don't usually teach people how to use this. It's an extremely difficult art to master. It took me ten years to get it... Do you really want to try it?" He asked looking me up and down.

I looked at the pole, if I was layed out, it would be taller than me, but something about it just called to me... "I'm positive." I said with a small amount of force. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew that this was what I needed to learn for the games.

He nodded. "Alright then. Watch first. We'll start out with basics."

And that is how I became confident with an object that was bigger than me.

Again, my ankle protested learning how to use it since in also included lots of moving ans shifting of weight. But for now, I ignored the pain and continued striking and defending.

I had learned how to protect myself, and how to attack, but there was only one problem.

It was huge.

I'm not going to be able to drag it around behind me and it's gigantic. Yes, it can fold up to be about as long as my arm, but my hands are too small to hold all three parts. I can hold two in one hand, and one in the other, but the thing is actually kind of heavy. Not as heavy as the tessen, but still it was quite heavy. And it would be difficult to run with it in my hands.

That's when it hit me. If I can't carry it with my hands, then I'll use something else.

I looked around and saw that there were careers at weapons. I looked over and found Victoria at throwing knives. And she was wearing a knife belt to carry knives like anyone who goes to that station!

My mind was racing and I finally figured out the perfect solution. I'd make some sort of carrying pouch or belt or something out of leaves or ferns in the arena! It was perfect!

I thanked my lucky stars that I was so resourceful and was able to make something out of nothing.

I smiled and trained even harder than ever. I had three weapons I was good at. There was obviously going to be one of the in the arena, and the others will be there if I show the gamemakers I can use them. Unless they decide to be cruel. Which is quite possible.

Although, it would give the audience something to speculate about. Like why the heck there was a fan at the cornocopia...

Well, I didn't have time to think about this right now.

I was soaked in sweat, and breathing a little heavier than usual. If I were normal, then I would have been panting, but for some random reason I have a really good endurance. But as I was saying, I was soaked in sweat, breathing harder than usual, and then all of a sudden I lost focus and didn't block one of his shots at my neck.

I made a tiny whimper and struck back making him fall to the ground.

"Wow. You're really good. Good luck out there Jewel." He said while standing up.

I nodded. "One more time?" I managed to choke out without any of my pain showing.

He sighed. "One more time. But then I will have to get another trainer over here who isn't so comfortable with these objects..."

"That's okay, I just want one more try with this, then I'll be done." I reassured him.

He nodded. "Alright, let's go then."

I nodded and we circled each other. He stepped toward me and I backed up. Then all of a sudden, someone rang a gong type thing and we all turned toward the noise.

"All tributes to the cafeterium for lunch. All tributes must go now." Said a straight faced peacekeeper.

I turned back to the trainer. "Thank you so much for teaching me." I said as I handed the three-sectioned pole back to him.

"You're welcome." He said with a smile as he took the pole back from me.

With that, I turned and walked to the door, grabbed a little food, and sat down in a corner like I had yesterday after allowing my allience to let me fend for myself without them.

A peacekeeper walked over and told me I couldn't sit there today and asked me to move closer to the group.

Weird. They didn't mind yesterday...

But I did as they said and sat at a table that was like, ten feet away.

After all the tributes were sitting down, Qasim Simar walked in.

Why is he here!

I faked boredom as he came in with just a small touch of confusion.

He cleared his throat. "Hello tributes. We have a serious issue here. One of you has been trespassing in off limits areas. If that person speaks up now, we will lessen the consiquences, if not, we will punish everyone greatly."

I looked around pretending to be waiting for someone to speak up.

But being me, I felt terrible while waiting.

I was about to tell them it was me, because the silence was deafining and the guilt was pounding into my soul, so I spoke up.

"It was me." I said.

"No, it was me." Said a voice. A voice that belonged to Kyle.

I rolled my eyes. Don't do this Kyle. Good lord. "No you didn't. I did, so just stop."

"Yes I did!"

I turned to Qasim. "Obviously, he's a little confused. Can you just punish me and ignore him please? He didn't do anything. There's just something going on in his head apperantly..."

"It was me!" Shouted Fred. God there was something wrong with that kid.

"No, you didn't. Shut up." I turned back to Qasim. "Okay, these kids seriously have something wrong with them. Can you just give me the punishment and leave them be? I didn't see either of them up there while I was there."

Qasim nodded. "Alright. But you must be willing to take both of their punishments as well, in case they did trespass as well."

I nodded. "Okay."

"Alright. Tributes, you're dismissed. Finish your lunch and go back to training." He said as he turned and left.

The reality of what had just happened finally hit me. I was going to get three punishments while I was in the games. Three. There's no way I'm going to live through them all.

Although, I already kind of knew I was going to die anyways...

I could feel the tension in the room and simply got up, threw my food away, went back to the training room, and hid behind a mat in a corner.

No one even looked at me as I left, and no one noticed I was gone.

Eventually every tribute was back in the training room and several people were voicing their opinions of the person who trespassed. Also known as, well, me...

"Maybe they got lost and accidently trespassed."

"I doubt it. They knew exactly what they were doing."

"I can't believe they didn't speak up."

"No way that tiny girl did that. She's way too innocent."

"I understand where they're coming from. I mean, they were probably scared."

"I bet it was a career trying to make our lives more difficult."

"Possibly, but they also ruined it for themselves too..."

After a while I stopped listening and tuned everything out.

Before I knew it, someone was clapping and yelling at everyone to go back to their rooms and wishing us luck tomorrow.

So I waited until the room was empty to get out of my hiding spot and walk to the elevator and get to my floor.

The first thing I did was go straight to my room and sit there. What was I going to show the gamemakers tomorrow? Knives? Tessen? The weird three-sectioned pole? Too many choices!

I lied down and thought about it. Maybe somehow I could use all three...

After about an hour of brainstorming and coming up with nothing that was any good, there was a knock at the door.

"Jewel! Dinner's in a minute!" Deeanna said from the other side of the door.

I almost laughed. Apperently she got fed up with me getting there before her.

I got up, brushed my hair out, and went to the dinning room.

I was third, since I only got a minute of warning.

I sat down where I had sat this morning.

Kyle walked in about thirty seconds later and Deeana huffed and yelled at us.

"How could you guys go trespassing in the building! That's terrible! Now you're for sure going to lose and then I'll never get promoted to a better district!"

"First of all, Kyle never trespassed, and neither did I. I just didn't want anyone who had a chance in the games to have it ruined for them." I lied smoothly.

This made Deeana even madder, and Kyle looked at me with disbelief, as Tellia frowned as thought she felt sorry for me.

"Every tribute has a chance! And with you and your knife throwing, anything is possible! How could you have done that!" Deeana screamed at me.

Kyle was open mouthed staring at me probably wondering if I was insane.

But hey, I had my reasons! If it hadn't been me, I probably would have said it was me anyway, because as I'd grown up learning, I was nothing, and everyone else was better than me. No, scratch that. Every_thing _was better than me. Including dirt.

That is what I learned at school. Through all the bullying, that is what came of it. Whether it's good or bad, who knows. Maybe if it had been someone else, I might have saved someone's life.

After a while of listening to Deeana scream at me, and me pretending to feel bad, she finally said that she "Couldn't do this anymore tonight and needed some sleep."

We all said goodnight and I told them I needed some sleep to. They said goodbye to me as well, and got up and went to my room.

I lay there for a while wondering exactly what to do in the last training day, when we show the gamemakers what we learned.

I eventually decided that the tessen, the three sectioned sword, and the knives were obvious. But I thought that would be too forgettable.

I sighed. I couldn't think about this yet. I really did need sleep.

I sighed and closed my eyes.

The first thing I saw were at least ten pairs of eyes staring at me, expecting me to do something fantastic. Or embarrass myself. One of the two.

I quickly opened my eyes and knew that this was going to be a long night.

I closed my eyes again, and this time I was staring at the three objects I had decided to use in the training session, and felt the fear in my stomach.

I forced myself to keep my eyes closed and endure it. I really did need all the sleep I could get, no matter how painful sleep was. And we all know I've been through way worse pain...

Brenna Mitchell POV

Why did that tiny little girl take the blame for something I did? What did she have up her sleeve? And why isn't she worried about how her life is going to be ruined because she took the blame for something I did?

I sighed and layed back down. I didn't have time for these games. I needed to keep my mind clear so I could focus on leading the careers and killing the rest of the tributes.

With that thought, I closed my eyes, and drifted off to sleep thinking about what I was going to do with the money when I won the games.

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><p><strong>I think my favorite lines in there was when they were coming up with punishments and Julio proposed torturing their loved ones. I cracked up when I typed Yumako talking about how they do that anyway. I could totally picture that in my head.<strong>

**The part from her learning the tessen is significantly shorter than it was, because when I clicked save, it said I hadn't logged in, so I had to re- type it, so I did but with much less detail. I may or may not make it longer once I finish the story. Who knows. But for now, this is it's length.**

**Woah! Check it out! Brenna also was trespassing! DRAMA! How is this going to affect things?**

**Also, this is probably the only time I will have someone's POV what isn't Yumako, Jewel, or Kyle, unless it is necessary. No, I take that back. There will also be the victor's POV if it isn't Jewel or Kyle.**

**Don't forget to review! They make me happy! REALLY HAPPY!  
><strong>


	13. Pain and Rewards

**Hey peeps! Time to reply to reviews!**

**Lollipopdreams: Haha. I guess she is like a fiesty Rue. That's a cool way to think about her! Hehe.**

**She'sALady-SoTreatHerLikeOne: I would have Yumako use more grown up words, but I really wanted to make sure the stupidness of all the capitol people was portrayed, so I'm trying to make her sound kinda stupid.**

**ImmaNinjaz: Thanks for doing this for me! Anyways, I'm glad you like it, but don't worry. Don't let the suspense kill you. The chapters will come out soon enough. My fingers aren't fast enough to keep up with my thoughts. Don't worry, they'll catch up eventually. :) But anyways, just be patient, and the chapters will come up. I'm not going to stop writing this story, and you of all people know why...**

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><p><span>Jewel POV<span>

I woke up with the sun as usual.

I sang a little song quietly and sat on the edge of my gigantic bed, looking out at the usually beautiful sunrise. Today it wasn't the same though. The colors weren't as bright as normal and they seemed a little foreboding... It gave me a bad feeling about the day.

I then realized, that today was the last day of training. Or more importantly, it was the day we get our training scores.

Almost every tribute from twelve got low scores, and it would be almost impossible for me to be any different.

But my goal for the day was to come up with some cool way to use all the weapons and make them more deadly.

The problem with that, is that even the thought of killing someone makes me sick to my stomach.

But I know that since I was going to get enough punishment for three people, I was going to need to become deadly. Which was pretty hard to imagine. I mean really, me? Deadly? That's like the grim reaper riding a unicorn.

Anyway, I sat there and all I could think of was stupid things like using one hand for the tessen, and the other for the knives. But that's not going to work because what would I do with the three sectioned staff?

I thought about all the problems I'd overcome back home in twelve. Like the time I made my bed out of straw, stained cloth, a needle and thread. Or the time I made the centerpiece of the kitchen table with firewood and out only knife that's dull, rusty, and barely cuts at all.

They had all taken a lot of time, but if I'd had the proper tools, it would have taken much less time than it did.

And I'm in the _capitol_, they're bound to have something better than that rusty knife I used before, or those stupid plastic hooks.

So I thought. And I thought. And I thought.

Finally, the perfect idea came to me!

First, I'd show them that I could use all the weapons individually. After I was satisfied they'd seen enough, I'd use the knives to carve spots into the three-sectioned staff to put knives and the tessen in. Then I'd manuver the staff to work right.

It's going to be difficult to do it right off the bat, but it'll have to work if I have any chance at victory. Plus, if I don't take any chances and play it safe, I can never succeed and surpass everyone's expectations.

Okay, so I had a plan. Awesome. Now, there's only one thing left to do. Wait. And wait. And wait some more.

The private training sessions go by district, and since I'm from eleven, and that's almost the highest district Kyle and I are almost last. And for the private sessions, the girls go after the guys. So I'm the third to last. So I have that much more time to sweat out the wait. Fun fun huh?

Yeah not really...

I rolled over and felt a sharp pain on the left side of my body.

Crap! I'd forgotten that I fell from that huge climbing thing. Ugh!

One thing I always hated with injuries, is that they tend to get worse over the first night. So now I felt even more pain on my legs and now I felt some pain in my arm too.

I put on a tank top and shorts so I'd have a better look at the damage.

Let's just say I was really glad that the training outfits had long sleeves and long pants...

There was an obvious break in the femur. The ulna wasn't looking quite right either, and I definetly dislocated my shoulder. And of course there was a lot of dried blood. Those were the obvious ones.

The not so obvious ones were that one of my tarsals were broken, and I sprained both my ankle and my wrist.

Fun fun...

I put the training outfit back on and literally pulled myself to the door and opened it.

I sat against the door frame and waved a capitol servent down.

"Is it possible for you to get me a bag of ice please?" Then I remembered how much of me was hurt... "On second though, can I have five bags of ice?"

The capitol person raised their eyebrows but nodded and left.

I sat there for a moment longer before I dragged myself back to the bed and laid there.

The capitol person came in with the five bags of ice and set them next to me.

"Thank you." I said.

They nodded and left closing the door behind them.

I put a bag of ice on each part of me that hurt, and counted to two hundred. Then I took the bags off and looked around the room to see what I might be able to use to bandage myself.

All I could think of was using some of the stretchy clothes and tearing them and wrapping my wounds.

So I dragged myself over to the closet and sat on the floor tearing some of the stretchy pants apart to use as bandages.

After I was satisfied with the amount, I wrapped them up, but then I still had a problem.

If these bones don't set right when they heal, I'm going to have to re-break them... And trust me, that's not fun. At all. Take it from someone who knows...

So I looked around to see what all I had that was straight so that after I put the bones in place, they would stay there.

My best bet was the leg of some chairs.

So I dragged myself over there and started breaking the legs off.

I set the legs down by me, and set my femur bone in place. After that, I put four different legs around it and wrapped more bandage around that.

Okay, lumpy and awkward, but it's better than nothing.

I was able to stand up now. Well, kinda.

Anyway, I broke another chair and used the legs to put around my arm after I set the bone, and wrapped some more bandage around that.

Now I was good to go. Okay, not exactly, but it was good enough.

I limped my way to the doorway of the kitchen staying out of sight. Then I forced myself to walk normally no matter how much it hurt to the dinning room and get some food on my plate. Then I finally got to sit down at my seat and I had to stop myself from sighing in relief when the pressure was taken off my leg.

"Good morning Jewel!" Tellia said brightly.

I nodded in response. I'm not a super talkative person...

Thankfully, I'm a righty, so my injuries on my left side isn't a problem for eating.

So I took some small bites and every so often, I'd start to lift my left arm to get something and have to stop myself, put whatever was in my right hand down, and grab whatever it was with my right hand.

I'm pretty sure Kyle noticed, since he gave me a few strange looks when I stopped myself from using my left hand, but I ignored him hoping he wouldn't ask me about it.

We talked a little, but everything was really tense today, so there was a lot of silence, much to Deeana's dismay.

Eventually, I finished and asked if I could be excused.

"Sure. Go down to the lunch room. They'll start sessions when everyone's there. You do know what you're going to do right?" Tellia checked.

I nodded and turned to leave.

Once I was out of sight, I limped to the elevator.

I took it down to the basement floor and limped down to the lunch room.

I wasn't the first one there, so I had to walk normally to the corner I've been at usually and slid down to the ground and sat and waited.

I was already planning my exact movements for the session.

Eventually, everyone was there and a strong, low voice rumbled out "Oscar Whichow."

Oscar got up and walked through the double doors and into the training room.

Next to leave was Brenna, then Trent.

Then Victoria left but not without an evil smirk at me of course.

The names were read off every so often and I just stopped listening after a while.

Instead, I just thought about how different life has been for me the past few days.

Before, I was so scared I was going to be bullied that I wouldn't go outside. Now I'm wielding weapons.

Before, I let myself be bullied, now- Wait a second. I still let myself get bullied... Okay moving on.

Before, I thought nothing of myself, now, I'm being convinced that maybe there's a little something I'm good at. And I've started to actually believe that I'm better than someone. I don't know know who yet, but there's gotta be someone right?

Before, I wrote poetry everyday, now I- OH MY GOSH! I haven't written any poetry since the train ride! Okay, when I get back to my room, I'm going to write a poem. And I mean it. It's not one of those things that's like "I'll do my homework later" but then you never do it, I'm for real this time!

Before, I wanted to die, now that I'm staring death in the face, I'm doing everything I can to go back, or at the very least, leave my mark here in Panem.

I thought about that last one. I didn't want to be just one more forgotten face who died in the Hunger Games. I want to be better than that. I want to show people who I am. Not the mask I put on. I'm going to go out fighting. I'm not sure how... But I am! Maybe my interview will be the icing on the cake. Because really, I have no hope with the training score...

"Kyle Throtingward." A deep voice broke through my thoughts.

I looked around to find him and gave him a pretty real smile to give him good luck.

He smiled back and nodded.

I watched him turn to go in, and right before he went through the door, he seemed to remember something, and turned back to me, and made conducting motions to me.

I looked at him questioningly and he pretended to sing.

I had no idea what he was getting at so I just made a motion to brush off whatever it was he was trying to say.

He frowned, and then turned to go in the training room.

What was he trying to say?

He's terrible at singing. I would know. I'm next to him in choir. My least favorite class.

I only hate it because I'm next to him though. It would be a great class, if he wasn't there. No, I take that back. It would be a great class if I was the only one in it. Almost everyone in that class bullies me, and those who don't just ignore me completely. So during the whole class period, I lip sync the music. And when she makes us sing separately, I make my singing sound like a normal voice, and not my actual voice. Because I don't want them to have anything else to use against me...

Some of the music I really ended up liking, so I would remember them and sing them at home in my closet.

Yes I said in my closet. The sound gets muffled more when it has to go through an extra door and extra space.

"Jewel Johnson."

I jumped at the name. Oh. it's my turn. got it.

I stood up and walked to the door.

I was still trying to figure out what Kyle meant...

When I opened the door, I came face to face with twenty people who were paying no attention to me.

I sighed quietly. This is going to feel way longer than it actually is...

"Begin" Qasim commanded me.

I nodded and walked over to the three sectioned staff.

I picked it up and started manipulating it how I had learned. I was doing really good and so I started picturing where I was going to put the knives and the tessen.

When I finished with that, I looked over to find that the game makers only cared about their roasted duck. Awesome. To them, I'm not even as interesting as a duck. Cool...

All of a sudden, what Kyle had tried to say made sense. He wanted me to sing!

Okay, now if I had figured that out before I saw how interested in the duck the gamemakers, I would have never sung for them, but I'm not sure that even if I sprouted wings that they would care...

I took a deep breath and hummed a high D.

Every head snapped toward me.

So far, so good.

I took it a little further, and hummed a high G.

They all subconciously leaned forward in their chairs toward me.

I smirked internally proud of myself for getting their attention.

I went even further and sang a verse of a song I'd learned in choir. One of the good ones we did.

"Many nights we've prayed  
>With no hope anyone could hear.<br>In our hearts a hopeful song we barely understood.  
>Now we are not afraid<br>Although we know there's much to fear.  
>We were moving mountains long before we knew we could."<p>

They all seemed so interested, but singing isn't going to give me a high training score, so I ended the song there, and walked over to the tessen.

When I picked it up, I saw several of them were confused.

I could understand that. I mean think about it. Some tiny girl walks over and grabs a fan during her training session? Not something they see very often...

I picked it up, and almost as soon as I had it in my hand, I started into the presice moves I had planned earlier.

When I finished, I was feeling so good that I had an idea that would either make, or break my training. I grabbed a knife and threw it straight behind me. Toward a target.

I heard a satisfying noise and knew I had hit the target.

I just about jumped up and down and started dancing right at that moment.

Okay, last phase of my performance. The hard part.

I decided that since they were so interested in my singing, that while I worked, I would hum.

So I hummed a random tune that came to me, as I worked as quickly as I could to get the job done. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to work...

The gamemakers had just started tuning out and being bored when I finished, got up, and started swinging it with force.

I went to a dummy, and ended up piercing it in the stomach with one of the knives.

Dang!

This got the gamemaker's attention...

I continued wielding this homemade weapon, and it turns out, with enough planning, it's possible to be good at something right off the bat.

I held the homemade weapon in my hand and bowed to the gamemakers.

"Thank you." Qasim said.

I smiled, nodded, set the homemade weapon down, and walked out of the room with that.

When I got into the elevator, I did a little happy dance and made a weird noise of excitement.

The doors opened and for the first time, I strolled out of there with a smile on my face and strutted down the hallway feeling like I was more popular than Chloe.

I opened the door to my room without being interrupted, and locked it once I was inside.

I walked over to my bed and fell onto my back.

I felt like I was on top of the world.

Gosh, back in District eleven, I was nothing, and I knew it. Now, I'm feeling like a superhero. Like someone who had just saved all of Panem. Like... I don't even know what else felt this good. I couldn't think of anything that could compare with this feeling.

Oh! I promised myself I would write poetry now!

I thought as I went to grab my district token, and sat on my bed.

I knew exactly what I was going to write about.

_Everything's different  
><em>

_Everything's different,  
>Everything's changed.<em>  
><em>How has this happened,<em>  
><em>In so little time?<em>

_One day I'm nothing,  
>The next I'm on top of the world.<em>  
><em>One day I'm bullied,<br>The next people care._

_One day I'm hiding,  
>The next I'm in plain sight.<br>One day I'm scared of the world,  
>The next, I'm on top of it.<em>

_How has this all changed,  
>Within a day?<br>It's so hard to believe,  
>I'm not going to wake up in a minute.<em>

I looked at the last stanza of the poem. The fact of how I actually was waiting for morning to come was a little shocking. I hadn't even noticed until I wrote the poem.

Just one of the many things I love about poetry. It can get you to realize something right in front of you that you'd over-looked.

_"_Jewel! Dinner!" Deeana screamed through the doorway_._

"Okay." I said back.

I took a really quick shower, dried myself off, and got into the first outfit I saw.

I walked to the dining room and was the second one there, only after Deeana.

I grabbed some food and sat down and started eating.

"So Jewel, how do you think your session went?" Deeana asked, obviously uncomfortable with the silence.

I shrugged. Like I've said in the past. I'm not much of a conversationalist...

"Well... What did you do?" She kept trying to make conversation.

"Staff, tessen, and knives." I said quickly and took a bite of some mashed potatoes.

"What's a tessen?" She asked honestly confused.

"A fan." I said after swallowing.

She looked at me like I was insane. "And you thought the gamemakers would be impressed with that?"

I shrugged.

She rolled her eyes, gave up on trying to make conversation and waited for someone else to come in.

Eventually, all of us were here.

As soon as the last person sat down with their food, Deeana couldn't hold her questions in anymore. "So how did it go? Give me details." I have a feeling that last part was meant for me.

Kyle went first probably knowing I wanted to put it off as long as possible.

"Well, they didn't really pay much attention, so I don't think anything I could have done would have gotten me a good score considering that the only one who glanced at me was Qasim. But anyway, I shot some arrows for a while. And when I went to retrieve the arrows, they dismissed me."

Tellia and Deeana nodded, whether it was in approval or what, I had no idea.

Tellia turned to me. "And you Jewel?"

I responded with the same thing I'd told Deeana earlier. "Staff, tessen, and knives."

Deeana put her head in her left hand obviously frustrated with me.

Tellia was more patient with me than that. "Care to explain? And what's a tessen?"

I took a deep breath knowing that this was going to be a long couple of statements.

"A tessen is a fan, but it's also a weapon. I showed them I could use that, and then I threw some knives and manipulated a three sectioned staff." I left out the part about throwing the knife backwards. "Then I made them all one weapon and used that." I told them. "Oh, and... Erm... I also sang a little bit..." I said the last part really really softly.

Kyle smiled, excited I'd figured out his message. Tellia raised her eyebrows wondering if I was messing with her. Deeana looked as though she wanted to make sure I didn't go in the arena so she could kill me herself. And the prep teams weren't close enough to hear what I said.

Kyle broke the silence and asked the question several people were probably thinking. "What did they think of it?"

"They seemed to really like it..." I said just as quietly as before.

Kyle smiled brighter. Tellia seemed a little impressed. And Deeana still seemed worried. And the prep teams were confused because they had no idea what we were talking about.

All of a sudden there was a weird beeping sound and Deeana jumped up from her chair. "Time for the score announcements!" She clapped and danced from the room, totally forgetting about my singing.

I smiled just slightly at how strange the capitol people were, and followed her.

Everyone sat down and we turned on the television.

About thirty seconds later, there was Qasim in the middle of the screen.

"We had quite an entertaining and surprising day today. Some unexpected events took place, and the scores show that. Here are the scores for the 124th Hunger games!"

You could hear the crowd of Panem screaming as each picture came up.

Brenna came up with a ten. Oscar got a nine. Trent got an eight. Victoria got a ten. Alexandra got a three. David got a four. Zelda got a nine. Xavier got an eight. Penny got a six. Waldo got a two. Cassidie got a four. Isaac got a five. Maria got a seven. Herman got a six. Lorie got a five. Greg got a one. Elise got a four along with Quincy. Rachel got a two, and Nithaniel a seven.

The whole room tensed up as my picture appeared.

I closed my eyes not wanting to see the failure, but to my surprise, everyone else cheered.

I opened my eyes to a number eleven flashing under my name and picture. My jaw dropped, and I couldn't think of anything I could possibly say to this.  
>I barely registered Kyle's score of an eight before I was picked up and swung around in a large circle.<p>

It was Kyle who'd picked me up.

I actually smiled at him after what had just happened registered.

I had just gotten the highest training score in the games. I had a higher score than ever career here.

Oh dang it! I had a higher score than any career here.

My smile turned into a look of panic. They were all going to be targeting me first. This is terrible!

Kyle saw the panic in my face and immediately put me down and out his hands on my shoulders.

"What's wrong!"

I could only manage a whisper. "I'm going to be the one everyone wants to kill." I said still in shock.

He thought about it and hugged me. "Don't worry. You'll be okay."

Yeah. He says that now. With the luck I have, I'll be the first one dead at the blood bath...

No one around us noticed our short exchange.

I calmed myself enough that I could pretend I was okay and then realized I never saw Samantha and Fred's scores.

I was upset about it for about two seconds before I decided that it probably didn't matter anyway since they probably got low scores.

If I had to guess I'd say Fred got a one and Samantha probably got a 5 or so.

"I told you you had a great voice!" Kyle said as he let go of my.

"Thanks for the idea Kyle."

"You're welcome Jewel. If there's anything the capitol likes more than blood, it's surprises. And your voice sounds like an angel."

I blushed. "Thanks."

"You're welcome Jewel." He finished as Tellia called our attention.

"Alright, I'm sure you can all agree, it's been a long day. So we should all go to bed so we'll be ready for the interviews tomorrow. Good night everyone Off to your rooms now." She said as she ushered us all out the door.

I went to my room, changed into some comfier clothes, got into bed and tried to fall asleep, but when I closed my eyes, all I could picture was myself freezing up at the interviews.

I forced myself to fall asleep anyways.

What have I gotten myself into?

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><p><strong>What did you think? Oh, and I didn't have a good spot to put in the name thing, so I'm just going to have hidden clues throughout the book and at the very end I'll let you know what the cool name thing was. Remember, it has to do with a song you learned in preschool. And no, it has nothing to do with boats or little twinkling stars.<strong>

**Anyways, this is a SUPER long chapter, (4,165 to be exact) so that's why it took so long to get out, The next chapter is going to be even longer, so be prepared for a long wait and then when it finally gets posted, be prepared to sit at your computer for like two hours so you can finish reading it.**

**Interviews are next!**

**Review! It makes me happy and it actually does give me inspiration, which I know sounds cheesy, but it's true!  
><strong>


	14. The Horror Of Talking

**Alright guys, it's been a while. I gave up on trying to write every single interview out, I just didn't have the strength or inspiration for most of them, so I came up with some alternatives. I hope that's okay. But really, who wants to read twenty four interviews anyway?**

**I gotta say, I think the president's last name is pretty creative. :P Just kidding. You'll see what I mean.  
><strong>

**So here we are with chapter fourteen. Next chapter they go into the arena. Anyway, happy reading!  
><strong>

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><p><span>Jewel POV<span>

The whole morning was a blur. All I remember was hair being ripped off of me, and and make up going on my face. All in all, I was just going through the movements. I was going to die this week and I knew it. There was no point in pretending anymore.

I slightly remember beig yelled at for having so many cuts and bruises and complaints about how it'll take forever to get them to look right. No one cared how I got them, or that my leg femur was at an unnatural angle, though I have a feeing it's just because they didn't pay attention to it. They just needed it covered.

As the prep team smeared things on my injuries, I fought the urge to scream out in agony. The pain was almost unbearable. But the creams soothed it slightly. It was terrible, but great at the same time.

When the prep team wasn't looking I grabbed some fabric they'd cut off and wrapped it around my leg tightly to hold as a makeshift cast. Thankfully the dress was long enough where it wouldn't be seen, but I couldn't do that with my arm since the dress was short sleeve.

Hopefully now walking wouldn't be quite so painful.

But I was wrong. It was as painful as ever. The only thing it did was hold my bone in place for when it started healing. Whenever that was...

Next thing I knew, I was lined up behind the other tributes and we started walking forward.

I was a slow walker due to my leg and I didn't turn my head or do really anything with my entire body unless I had to. My limbs were as relaxed as possible, and I moved them as little as possible.

I stepped onto stage the next day in my orange and yellow dress, took my proper seat and sat there for a bit. Eventually the curtain came up and I had to try to calm my heart down. Was a really going to go through with this? Could I really tell them about my life at District Eleven?

I mean, I know it sounded kind of stupid, but I didn't want the people of eleven to be any more looked down upon than they already are, I mean, we're already one of the most despised districts, there was no need to make it any worse by telling them how awful the kids there were.

My thought was then interupted by two things.

Florian walked onstage and the crowd erupted in cheer. And also, I had rotated my wrist slightly sending a wave of pain through me.

Florian bowed to the crowd and got them to be quiet.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen. I understand that it is not yet a Quarter Quell, but the president decided it might be fun to add a slight twist in anyway, what do you guys think huh?"

The crowd's response, was as loud as an explosion in the dark days.

Fear coursed through me. How had they decided to make my life more miserable now?

"Give it up for our President Rain!" Florian said, and impossibly, the crowd got even louder.

The president walked onstage as a stand with a microphone rose out of the floor. He walked straight to it.

"Ladies and gentlemen. To make this year's games more exciting, we have decided to add an extra element to the games." The whole room went silent as he flipped to his next note card. "This year, the tributes will have to work together whether the like it or not. Every tribute will be supplied with a partner who will be recognized by a particular colored chip implanted in the tribute's wrist, ankle, and neck, that cannot come off. If a tribute is killed, as soon as their heart stops beating, the person with the corresponding color implanted chip will instantly drop dead. The implanted chips will be disabled when we gamemakers decide it is time, there will be an announcement in the arena, and then the chips' color will fade and it will look as though it was never there." He finished.

The crowd just exploded in happiness. How entertaining it could be when people die because of another person's fault. I mean, the person could be the smartest person on earth but have a partner who had no chance.

"These tributes do not have to form an alliance, they may never even meet each other. But one thing is for sure, no one will know who their partner is until they are standing on their plates and in the arena." The president clarified.

Awesome. No way to plan and no way to figure things out before hand. Awesome...

"Let's get these interviews started with Brenna Mitchell! Come on up!" Florian announced with flair

Brenna sauntered onto the stage and before she took more than five steps you could tell that she was definitely going for the sexy angle.

She reached her chair but before she sat down, she blew a kiss to the audience.

The crowd went insane over her kiss and tried to catch it as though it were tangible. Stupid capitol people...

Brenna smiled, pleased with herself as she sat down. She had the crowd at her will and she knew it. And she was obviously going to take advantage of it too.

While the crowd continued thundering on, I looked at her dress a little more closely.

It was made of red sating and was a super low cut V-neck. It had a very small amount of glitter patterns, just enough to make it a little more interesting than just a plain red dress. All the designs were around the chest area, so the stylist definitely wanted focus on her breasts instead of her face, even though I think her smile was her best trait.

The crowd finally hushed up when Florian began to talk. Apparently everyone wanted to know what Brenna was going to say.

"So Brenna, what do you think about this rule change the president just announced? Worried? Excited? Or are you just going to take it as it comes?"

"Well Florian," She said flirtatiously while looking at her nails. "I guess all I can really do is wait and see who my life is linked to in the arena. Then I'll decide whether I'm worried or excited." She says and looks up at Florian.

"That seems like a pretty good plan to me. Now Brenna, do you have a special guy at home?" Florian asks and wiggles his eyebrows at the audience.

Brenna smiles at him. "Actually, I don't. I just broke up with my boyfriend."

"So the guys have a shot at you?" Florian presses.

"Definitely. But they have to meet my standards." She shrugs as though that much was obvious.

"And what exactly are your standards?" Florian asked as the crowd leaned in to hear her answer.

"Oh, you know. The usual. He has to be smart, handsome, oh, and he has to have money too." Brenna lists off.

Florian nodded. "Do I fit into those categories?" Florian jokes with her.

"Why of course Florian!" She says as she kisses his cheek.

The audience is laughing, since Florian is married and has three kids, so he obviously is just joking around. Although with capitol people, you never know who's going to cheat on who.

Once Florian calms the audience down, he asks some more questions. "What's a normal day at home like for you?"

Brenna thought about it. "Before, or after I broke up with my boyfriend?"

Florian thinks for a second, then turns to the crowd. "How about both? We want to hear both sides of the story don't we?"

The crowd cheers in approval.

Brenna laughed a little bit. "Alright, well I'll start with before we broke up." She decides. "So I would wake up, take a bath, and do my hair and make up and get ready for school. I'd eat my breakfast which was normally some eggs and a pancake. Eventually, I'd hear a knock on the front door, and I'd answer it and there would be Damion, waiting to walk me to school. I'd invite him inside while I finished eating and then we'd walk to school. We sat next to each other in class, and my other friends sat with us too. Eventually, school was over so then Damion would walk me home. After about an hour at home, I had to leave to go to work, and then I'd come back around dinner, and then go to bed." She finished.

Florian nodded. "Damion was a lucky boy back then, huh?" He asked the crowd.

The crowd whooped and hollered in agreement.

"Okay, and my days are pretty much the same, only Damion doesn't walk me to and from school and he doesn't sit with my friends and I." She said.

Florian nodded.

"What do you do in your free time?"

"Well... I like to go shopping in the town square. That's my favorite thing to do. My friends and I like to hang out at-"

But then she was cut off by the buzzer.

"Well isn't that sad." Florian said. "Brenna must go now. Goodbye Brenna. And good luck."

"Goodbye Florian!" Brenna called to him sexily.

And with that, she strutted back to her seat, and sat down in a very attractive way.

Oscar was called up next. His interview was pretty uneventful, besides the fact that that he was angry during most of it.

He called the tributes that weren't careers "weak little nobodies who didn't stand a chance against him."

Oh, and he warned us all not to kill whoever his life was linked to, or the careers would take revenge.

Several of the other tributes looked pretty scared of him by the end of his interview...

In fact, it looked like Florian was a little nervous too.

"Alright, well thank you Oscar."

"You're welcome Florian." He said in a scary way.

With that, he was back in his seat and then I realized just how much more scared I should be for the next interview. Because up next, was Victoria.

"Victoria Thuranguld." Florian called out to the crowd. "Come on up!"

Her walk even scared me.

I shuddered, if she could scare me that easily while walking, I can't imagine her coming at me, sword in hand.

"Alright, first thing's first Victoria. Do you have anyone who really needs to watch out for you?" Florian started the interview.

Oh god.

Victoria sneered. "Why yes. I have someone who I just can't wait to slice through." She turned her head, looked down the line of tributes and stopped at me. "I believe it'll be quite fun. And it might even entertain me a little."

Florian didn't quite get that she was looking at someone in particular.

"Who might that be?" He asked.

"I think I'll leave it as a... Special treat for you all when I kill her. It'll be spectacular to watch, that's for sure." Throughout the whole interview she had an evil smile, but now it changed slightly. Now, it was more of a... A knowing look. What that meant, I had no idea, but I knew for a fact, that I should definitely be scared.

I zoned out for the rest of the interviews afraid of what I might hear. I didn't want to get to know the people who would be killing of dying right beside me.

I was only partially aware of the clapping and the crowd's reactions. I tried my best to concentrate on anything but the tributes and Florian. Thankfully, I'd had quite a bit of practice trying not to hear anything around me.

So in my head, I tried to achieve an entirely clear mind. I tried to think of nothing.

Eventually I got it, and the only thing that snapped me out of my meditative state, was my name.

"Jewel Johnson! Come on up!" Florian said with some actual enthusiasm.

I got up and walked to the chair by him and sat down.

The audience cheered and whooped and hollered, even though usually only the careers get that.

As soon as I sat down, Florian bombarded me with his first question.

"So Jewel. What's this about you getting an eleven in training? That's the highest score out of all the tributes! What exactly do you have up your sleeve?"

I shrugged. "I don't think I can really tell you much. Although I doubt it will matter since you most likely won't see it in the arena at all." I said in my quiet and innocent voice.

My angle wasn't going exactly as planned... It was turning into a more, mysterious twelve year old, instead of sweet and innocent. Hopefully that will change when I get to the part about my home life.

He looked at me questioningly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could just barely see Victoria glaring at me.

"Is that so?"

"Yes. I've only seen it maybe... Twice in the last thirty or so Games. There just isn't a reason to use it in the arena." I told them, letting them wonder exactly what I did to get a darn eleven.

"Maybe we can get some hints. Will you answer yes or no questions?" He asked me.

It was obvious he was just dying to know exactly what I did in there. But I can imagine that. I mean, some scrawny twelve year old from district eleven, gets a higher score than the careers. I mean really, when does that ever happen?

I thought about it. "I guess so."

"Okay, do you use this skill at home?"

Well, I sing in my room... "Yeah. Sometimes. But no one knows it."

He nodded obviously trying to piece things together. Good luck with that buddy.

"No one at all?"

I thought about that, and remembered how it was Kyle that suggested I sing. "Well, okay, that's not entirely true. There is one person who knows about it."

"Alright, breaking the yes or no streak, who is it that knows you have this skill?"

I took a deep breath and turned toward the tributes and nodded to Kyle. "Kyle knows. He was the one who suggested I do it in the training session."

"Interesting... Alright, moving on. Does your family know you have this skill?"

I almost burst out laughing. Chloe? Knowing that I sing? That's a good one. Now I had to shape my answer to make him ask me about my home life. That's the real heart breaker in my story.

I shook my head sadly. "No. My family doesn't know much about me at all. I spend all my time locked in my room." I paused, and decided to end my answer there. No need to make Chloe look bad in front of everyone in Panem.

"How terrible! Well they can learn things about you now. What do you do in your room all day?"

"I write. And I do the same thing I did in training. And then I write some more. And then I read some of the old things I wrote." Please don't ask what I write about. Please don't ask what I write about!

"What do you write?"

Crap!

"Um... Poetry mostly... Sometimes I write some stories too. The stories are usually pretty short though." I blushed and wiggled a little uncomfortably. Talking is obviously not my strong point. But we all knew that already.

"Do you remember any of them? Could you recite one for us?" He asked me.

I thought. Yes, yes I can. Will I tell you that? Obviously not. "No. None particularily come to mind."

"How about you make one up right on the spot?" He seemed pleased with his idea. I wasn't pleased at all though.

"I don't know Florian. These things take time to write." Okay, so I'm partially lying. If I'm in a writing mood, It goes quickly, but if I'm not, then it takes FOREVER!

"Come on Jewel! At least try!" He turned to the audience. "Wouldn't you guys like to hear one of Jewel's poems?"

I blushed. "Well, maybe not now, but in the arena you'll see one or two. My district token is my notebook full of poems and a pencil. So that I can continue writing even though I'm not in my district."

"So how do you think your friends are back in district eleven?"

I looked down to make it more dramatic. "Well... I don't exactly have friends back home... The people there don't exactly like me."

"What about your sister?"

"Chloe's popular. People like her."

"Then why don't you guys share your friends?"

"Um... Because Chloe doesn't exactly like me much."

"Really?"

I nodded sadly. "Yes. She thinks I-" I started but the ring of the bell cut me off.

"At the good part too. Oh well. Rules are rules. It's been great talking to you Jewel."

"You too Florian." I said as I stood up and walked back to my seat.

I let out a deep breath. It was finally over. No more talking.

Oh no! It's finally over! No more talking! That means one thing. Tomorrow I go into the arena.

In my state of panic, I tried to calm down to go into my meditative state of mind again. I didn't even care if I heard Kyle's interview or not, I needed to calm down.

I breathed pretty fast in and out. I thought I was going to hyperventilate.

As Kyle was called, he went passed me and discretely spoke to me. "You have a full day ahead of you."

He sat down and all I could do to acknowledge him was blink.

He gave me a reassuring smile that wasn't super reassuring considering the fact we were both going to die within a week, but I took it and made an unconvincing smile at him.

I then turned to the crowd, and calmed myself.

The rest of the interviews went by in a blur. The only thing I could get from Kyle's interview was that his strategy was charming.

I didn't pay any attention to anything until that night. I just went through the motions.

When I went to go to bed after dinner, Kyle was there, to calm me down for tomorrow.

"I won't see you until we're in the arena tomorrow. But I want you to know that you have become a little sister to me. And that I am going to do everything I can to get us as far as we can go. I know that only one of us can win, and considering the fact, that your whole life you have been hated for no particular reason, and I've been a jerk, I think it's safe to say you deserve it more than me."

He did not just go there.

I shook my head. "No. You have friends to go back to. I have enemies. They wouldn't want me back anyway. Don't sacrifice your life for me."

He sighed. "Fine. I suppose we will go as far as we can until it becomes evident that it is time to break off the allience and then we will go our seperate ways."

I nodded. "I don't know if we'll be in an alliance at all in the arena. It might be better not to make you a target for the careers. The more you hang around me, the more they'll hate you." I said.

He sighed obviously thinking I wasn't thinking clearly since I was so tired. "We'll see what happens tomorrow. Goodnight Jewel."

"Goodnight." I said and with that, I turned around, and went into my room.

I fell asleep to thoughts of absolutely everything. The careers killing me, Kyle dying because of his partner, me dying because of my partner, me being partners with a career, someone dying because of me, and my last thought was how painful Victoria was going to make my death if she had anything to do about it.

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><p><strong>There you hav<strong>**e it! Chapter 14! I hope you enjoyed it, if you did, send a review my way, it really makes my day. And no, I'm not kidding.**


	15. Accepting Fate and New Plans

**I'm alive! Sorry about that. I was on vacation for a week with no wifi, and also, it's an uber long chapter! So it took a while to write. Anyways here it is.**

**Oh, I haven't done a disclaimer in a while...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games nor any of the characters in it. Suzanne Collins does.**

**Also, my friend is one of the characters in this story, it's super exciting. She also helped me write it, so everyone be all happy! Without her, this chapter would not be as epic as it is.  
><strong>

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><p><span>Jewel POV<span>

I woke up early that morning like usual. But even earlier than normal.

I slept terribly last night, just as I expected. I woke up at least seven times that night with terrible images in my head, but it seemed that I wasn't making noise while I slept anymore, which would be a good thing in the arena.

I looked over at the clock.

The light green numbers flashed _5:42 _at me.

I rolled over. Why of all days to not be able to sleep would it have to be today. The day I need all the sleep I could get considering I wouldn't be getting much more sleep for a while.

_Or at all. _Something in the back of my head pointed out.

I groaned. How true. I probably was going to die within an hour of getting in the arena. If that...

I sat up and decided I was obviously not going to get any more sleep. I rubbed my eyes and walked over to the lone window in the room. I peared out the window viewing the streets of the capitol.

Empty.

No capitol person would be awake until at least ten, and the streets would be empty by eleven, since thats when the games begin. They'll all be inside watching.

Who would be the first to die? Me? The other twelve year old? Who?

This thought tortured me for a few agonizing seconds before I decided it didn't matter. As long as I wasn't the killer.

A thought occurred to me for the first time, and I wondered how I hadn't thought of it earlier.

If I was going to win, I obviously had to kill someone. The final two people often have a final duel, and they fight. They don't sit on the ground and drink tea until one of them drops dead. They fight. To the death.

I shuddered. For the first time, I realized how terrible it must be to win. I mean, as long as you aren't a career.

How awful it would be to have someone's death in your hands. Have it be your fault.

I came to a conclusion. I'm not going to win.

It was that simple. I could never kill anyone, no matter how desperate the matters were. I will never kill another human being no matter what.

With those four sentences, I had just accepted my own death.

I stared out the window at the horizon. The sun was no where to be found.

I sat there for who knows how long, wondering how I was going to die, before I finally saw the sun peaking over the buildings around me.

It was possibly the last sunrise I would ever see, so I decided to enjoy it.

I crept closer to the window, and pressed my face against the cold, smooth glass.

I looked over the buildings to see the beautiful pink and orange colors that filled me with warmth.

By the time it was over, I felt like it had just begun, and the bright light in the sky just made everything feel worse.

After watching thousands of sunsets, and smiling at each one, it was surprising that the last one I watched, was so painful. It didn't seem right. How could something so beautiful to watch produce so much pain?

It had gone too fast. If only it could have lasted longer. I would have finally appreciated it for more than just beauty.

It was the promise of a new day. A new day with new chances, and new choices that could lead to anything.

I don't think it's fair, that you never realize anything for what it truly is until you're forced to live every moment day it's your last, because it really could be for all you know.

I thought about my home in district eleven.

Should I have let things go more often? Should I have tried to join in with the fun? Should I have stood up for myself instead of cowering in the corner?

Immediately I knew I should have.

But I also knew that even if I had, I'd still be in the same position now. The only difference is that maybe if I had done those things, it would have been harder to say goodbye to the district.

But I know that no matter what, it still would have been just as hard to say goodbye to life.

Not for the first time, I wondered what would be happening right now if I had succeeded in suicide.

Not for the first time, I knew it would have made everything else a whole lot easier.

But for the first time, I was happy I had failed.

This fact surprised me, but as soon as I thought it, I instantly knew it was true.

If I had succeeded, I would have never really appreciated my life. Several of the other tributes in this same building would give anything to be in district eleven, even with my reputation, rather than here where we knew we were most likely going to die.

For once, I decided I would rather be there too.

I remembered my indecision back in the town square back home. I remembered everything about that moment. Every detail. I remembered the feeling of standing there, deciding my fate as well as whatever poor kid's who got drawn out of the glass bowl.

I could even remember blue dress of the girl in front of me. The flats she wore that didn't match her dress. I could even remember the exact pattern the stone tiles we were standing on were in.

I wished I had payed more attention to everything else in life. If I had, I might not regret so much right now. I might be content with the fact that I was dying. I might have even believed my time was up, and that it was meant to be.

But I didn't pay more attention. And that, is the sole thing I regret.

A rapping on the door brought me out of my memories and into the present.

The clock on the other side of the bed flashed the numbers _6:30 _at me.

"Jewel! Time to get up!" My stylist - who's name I never bothered to learn - called.

Wait a second, my stylist? How odd.

I opened the door and was face to face with an impatient face looking at me.

I could already tell I was in for a long morning. Four and a half hours with this bundle of joy would be _so _much fun.

"Come on. Follow." She demanded of me as she turned and walked to the elevator.

I grabbed my notebook and followed obediently only because I knew if I didn't, my life would be made much worse than it is right now.

The elevator arrived and I followed my stylist into the small space, my deep thoughts from this morning completely gone now.

By the time I found myself on a hovercraft, I found myself longing to tape her mouth shut and bind her hands behind her back so that she couldn't take it off.

Without worrying about manners, I went straight to another section of the hovercraft to escape her meaningless babbling.

I sat there staring out the window before the shades closed on their own accord.

When I went to open them to see outside, I found that I couldn't open it not matter what I did.

I guess they didn't want me to have any hopes of escape.

I sighed and sat down.

All I had left to do was wait.

I leaned against the wall and my eye lids fluttered to a close.

And then, there was nothing but black.

"Jewel!" A voice screams at me.

My eyes snapped open to find that I'm now in a totally unfamiliar place. If I had to guess I'd say I was probably in a room underneath the arena.

"Get changed into these. I have a feeling it'll be ever changing weather. Both warm and cold. It's stretchy fabric, so you'll be moving a lot, obviously. And... Oh yeah, as you can see, you're implanted chip color is black."

I looked down at my wrists to find that she was right, there, was a ring of black squares on my wrist looking as though I had some strange bracelet on both my wrists. I looked to see the same was true for my ankles. I figured the same was true about my neck as well.

I changed into the clothes and right after I finished, there was an announcement over the speakers.

"Tributes, to you're starting platform please. I repeat, tributes to you're starting platforms please."

I walked onto the small, circular platform in the middle of the room and once my weight was on it, the sides started to descend around me.

I watched the glass come around me and looked at my stylist who seemed more than happy to have me gone finally.

Before I was ready, the platform started to rise.

This is it.

I looked above me and I saw a small circle of light above me.

The small light, which I assumed was the arena was getting closer and closer. The only light I could see came from that small circle above me.

I was right by it. Almost there.

And then I was blinded by the amount of light.

I blinked a couple of times.

I clutched my notebook, knowing it was what I'd want with me more than anything else in the arena.

Alright Jewel. It's time to die.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! I present to you, the tributes of the 210th Hunger Games!"

"You're minute starts, now."

My heart was going faster than I thought was possible. The adrenaline coursing through my veins. I looked around me and found that several of my senses were sharpened. I could hear the breaths of the tributes around me.

Just like the tape on the top floor said, I was right smack dab in the middle of everyone. We were placed in a half circle around the cornucopia and the only pathed exit out of there was all the way across the cornucopia from me.

To my left, was David, and after him was... Oh crap.

Next to David was Victoria.

On my right, I was slightly better off. Closest to my right was Greg and next to him was Cassidie.

Straight in front of me was an empty water bottle and a neon green backpack. I decided I would go for that first, and if I was still far ahead of everyone, we'd see how things went.

I continued to look at the supplies spaced around us.

I found every type of weapon accept... No wait. There it is.

The tessen that was obviously meant for me, was at the top of a pile of stuff, extremely close to the golden horn.

If I was going to have a shot at getting it, I was going to have to run faster than any human has ever run.

I wondered where the three section staff was.

Should I go into the bloodbath or not? I mean, I was going to die anyways, why prolong it, and if I didn't die now, then hooray, I'll have a weapon. Something to defend myself from-

The gong sounded and without thinking I was off my plate heading straight for that green backpack. I shoved it onto my shoulders and grabbed a knife.

I didn't look back, but I did look ahead. Victoria was in front of me holding my tessen trying to figure out what to do with it.

I made a small scared noise of horror and her attention snapped straight to me.

I did the only thing I could do. I threw one of my knives, but I aimed it at the tessen, not her.

When I let it fly, it hit exactly on target and the tessen was knocked out of her hand.

I ran to it grabbed it and ran for the path before anyone could get me.

I slid on the gravel picking up my tessen and lost a few valuable seconds getting back to my feet.

Those few seconds was just enough for Victoria to reach me and with hatred in her eyes she lifted me up by the back of my jacket.

I closed my eyes anticipating my death.

Time seemed to slow and all of a sudden I heard people screaming though what they were saying I couldn't tell.

Then I remembered the life links.

I looked at Victoria. Her color was gold. So she was free to kill me without dying herself.

Why was she stopping? Why was she hesitating.

My sense of sound seemed to diminish into almost nothing and it was as though I was listening to them from underwater.

All of a sudden I saw Oscar come into sight.

He screamed at Victoria and she handed me to him.

What was going on?

I looked at his color, and he had purple. Why would he care if I died or not?

I closed my eyes and braced myself for the death blow but it never came.

When I opened my eyes, I looked around and found Kyle at the edge of the trees. He was hesitating as though not sure whether to run or not.

I nodded to him, willing him to understand that I was telling him to run.

Somehow he understood and ran.

I heard a several cries of pain within the next few minutes of struggling to get out of Oscar's hold.

By now my hearing had come back in full and I could hear him hissing words at me.

"Shut it and stop squirming or I _will _kill you!"

I froze. They weren't going to kill me.

Only one thought was in my head.

Why?

My first thought was the life links. Who had my color?

I looked around the scene and realized that none other than Brenna had the same black that I had.

My eyes went wide.

Brenna. The leader of the career pack had her life linked to mine.

I suddenly had a slightly easier time breathing.

Once all the careers finished killing those they had in their hands, they circled around me and Oscar dropped me on the ground in the middle of them all.

"What do we do with her?" Trent asked.

"I say we kill her." Victoria replied immediately.

"I say no, considering her death means mine." Brenna replied.

"Well I'm not letting her into our group!" Zelda yelled at her.

"I'm the leader and I say she's in with us." Brenna said in a scarily calm voice.

The voices came from all around the circle.

So this is what it came down to. A simple fight between the careers would decide whether I live or die today.

"I'm with Brenna." Oscar said.

"If Oscar's with Brenna, then I am too." Said Xavier.

That made three in my favor. One more and I'm safe.

Everyone turned to look at Trent. He was the deciding vote, otherwise there was going to be a large fight, or two career packs this year.

"I don't want a fight. I say another set of eyes could be useful. Who knows, she could be useful. What was it she tried so hard to get from you Victoria?"

"This stupid fan."

"Maybe she knows something about it we don't." Trent decided.

Several voices laughed. "A girl from eleven? Yeah right."

"Who knows? It's possible."

"Enough. It's decided. She stays with us. And I suspect I will have several people behind me in a fight if one of you tries to kill her." Brenna stared down Victoria.

Victoria glared at Brenna before caving, deciding her chances in a four on two fight weren't good enough. "Fine. But when the links deactivate, I get to kill her."

"Fair enough." Brenna decided.

And just like that, my life was guaranteed to last until the life links deactivated.

As soon as Brenna finished, the capitol had decided I was not going to be part of the bloodbath and the cannons went off.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Eight people.

There were only five bodies in the cornucopia area, where the battle took place.

I swallowed hard. There were three more out there somewhere who dropped dead after thinking they were safe, and that they had gotten away.

My mind flashed to Kyle. Was he still alive?

I racked my brain to remember what color he had but it was no use. I'd had too much on my mind at that point to register his color.

I looked around the dead bodies and found that two bodies had white, two had red, and one had light blue.

That meant that someone had killed someone outside of the bloodbath area as well.

From what I could see, it looked like the bodies with white chips had been Greg and Cassidie.

The only other twelve year old was dead. I was alone.

The two bodies with red seemed to be Samantha and David.

Those poor families. I mean, Samantha seemed to be a good person from what I'd seen of her.

The lone soul with light blue chips seemed to be Alexandra.

I thought about it. That means that both district three's tributes are dead already.

The poor families there. This was the sixth year in a row that both their tributes had died in the bloodbath.

I looked around at the careers to look at what colors they all had.

Victoria was the only one with gold. So her life was linked with an unknown person somewhere in this arena.

Zelda and Oscar both had Purple chips. They were linked.

And Trent and Xavier both had Yellow chips. They were also linked.

I had a feeling we'd all be very protective of our linked partners.

Although no matter what, I was going to die, because as we established earlier, I was in no way capable of killing someone, and when you get to the final two, the don't sit there playing patty cake, and they don't kill themselves either. They kill the opposite person.

"Alright guys, the plan is, set up camp, and set out hunting. Jewel, you'll be at watch with at least one other person always. Since I really doubt you'll be much help hunting. Oscar, you're on watch with Jewel first. You can start setting things up for the night. Trent and Zelda, go that way and look for tributes. Grab a weapon and head out. Xavier, Victoria, you two are with me, we're going this way. Grab a weapon and go."

Everyone moved in their separate directions and Oscar and I went to the Cornocopia.

"How are we organizing this?" I asked tentatively.

"Huh? Oh um... Food over here, medicine over here, and weapons inside. Tents can be set up, and everything else can go here." He instructed pointing out where he wanted them.

I nodded and got to work.

As I was sorting, I found my three sectioned staff and placed if right inside the cornucopia for easy reach if need be. Along with some nice knives and my tessen, they were all by the entrance if I needed them.

There were piles and piles of food everywhere, but the medicine and bandages were scarce.

I could only hope that we wouldn't need anymore than we already had.

When we finished, Oscar turned to me. "Hey you! Eleven. What's with that fan?"

I walked over to him. There was no point in lying. They were going to kill me anyway after the life links were deactivated.

"It's called a tessen. Some kind of weapon they used a long time ago. I learned how to use it at training." I mumbled just loud enough for him to hear.

Oscar nodded. "Are you any good?"

I shrugged. "Depends on your standards."

Oscar laughed and nodded. "Alright."

I sat down against the horn and thought about what I was going to do when night fell. Was I going to stay up all night in worry? Or was I going to let myself have what little peace I still had left.

I remembered my notebook at the bottom of the supplies pile. Might I write some poetry?

Or would I sing some kind of song for my own entertainment. Maybe some kind of lullaby I'd learned when I was little. Let the capitol know what exactly I did in training to get my 11.

I decided against singing. I'm not insane enough to give Victoria something to taunt me with. And I'm not stupid enough to give away our position, even if I am with the careers.

"Should I start a fire?" I called out to Oscar. "I mean, I don't know if it's smart or not, but we could sure use it."

Oscar thought about it. "Eh, go ahead. If anyone attacks us, they're practically dead already." He shrugged.

I nodded, got some fire starter and got to work.

It was difficult to start since the wood was wet. While I worked, I had time to reminice about what areas had traps. I knew for certain that the cornucopia wasn't. I specifically remember being upset that the careers were practically home free.

I shook my head at the irony. Now I was the one who had protection from the gamemakers.

So what areas are set up?

That's a stupid question. Everywhere else. Duh.

Alright, let me rephrase that. What kind of tricks are in each area?

I struck the match and lit the fire, hoping it would catch while I thought about it.

I remember that there's something weird about that pond... But what?

As soon as the fire caught, it was like a light bulb went off in my head.

The pond would freeze at night.

I racked my brain to try to remember more details of it. Would we be able to walk on it? Were the fish in the pond edible?

I sighed as I watched the flames lick the dry branches, trying to get the fire started.

I knew for sure that the anthem was mentioned. But I couldn't remember what about the anthem was so important.

As the flames rose, I continued to think, but the higher the flames got, the less ideas I had.

"Hey Eleven!" Oh great. Now my name is a number. Wonderful.

I turned around none the less and looked up at him expectantly.

"The others should be back soon. Is the fire ready?"

I nodded. If he wasn't so lazy, he could walk over and see for himself, but that's besides the point.

I turned around and watched the flames dance thinking about how beautiful they were.

Without realizing it, I hummed a very soft tune.

Out of habit, it was of course the song, "Somewhere over the rainbow". A song I had heard was popular long before the Dark Days.

I made sure I was very soft, so I could hardly even hear myself over the crackle of the fire.

My fingers tapped on my knee to the rhythm of the song. I closed my eyes picturing an actual rainbow and for a moment, I actually felt like everything was okay.

But when the song ended, my hope was gone. As gone as the old days where I wasn't made fun of. As gone as the dreams I once had.

And worst of all, it was as gone as all the tributes who had died today.

I opened my eyes and set my expression. I was going to stay strong while I was in the arena. I wasn't going to do anything stupid, or insulting.

I was going to accept my fate, and go on with it. In fact, I was going to enjoy every last moment of my life. Every moment.

There were snaps to my right and I whipped my head around to see what was coming.

I rubbed my neck with one hand because I'd given myself whiplash, and my eyes roamed everywhere as I got in a fighting stance.

I knew I had no chance, but I was going to go out fighting.

But I wouldn't need to fight anyway, for out of the bushes came Xavier, Victoria, and Brenna.

I relaxed and looked back to the fire, not wanting attention from them.

But Victoria wasn't going to have that.

"Do that all by yourself eleven?" She called with a smirk.

I didn't answer and continued staring at the flames. I couldn't help but wish it was Victoria that was burning instead of the logs, but I still stayed calm and kept a bored expression on my face.

I heard footsteps coming toward me but I didn't turn around. I knew it was Victoria, and I didn't care what she wanted.

She lifted me up by the back of my shirt and turned me to face her.

My eyes bulged as she picked me up, but I set my face in a blank stare at her by the time she was facing me.

Her expression was furious, but her voice was eerily calm. "You listen here shortie, when I talk to you, you answer me. Is that clear?"

I continued looking at her blankly before giving her one curt nod.

She dropped me and walked away, practically shaking with anger.

I fell onto my back, but picked myself up and began walking to the lake I had seen.

Stupid careers. I hate them!

I crept away as quietly as possible, but I really didn't need to be quiet.

Brenna had stormed up to Victoria and they were now having a big argument and not bothering to stay quiet. The rest of the careers were working on trying to calm them down. Trent was even holding Victoria's arms behind her.

Victoria snapped at Trent and broke out of his hold, but Brenna was fast, she dodged Victoria's fist that had been coming straight to her face.

I turned from the disaster scene and walked in a random direction.

When I got to the lake, I knew what it was that was strange about the lake. Suddenly, everything came rushing back to me.

The lake froze at night, the fish were edible besides their heads, and the ice would be thick enough to stand on by the time the anthem played.

"Pssst." Someone said from above me.

I jumped and looked around, fully aware of the fact that I had no weapon to protect myself with.

I found the source of the noise.

A girl was hanging upside down on a tree limb behind me.

I went to run to get away but the girl grabbed my wrist. I quickly analized her featured and decided she was rachel. She had dark blue chips and had a crossbow in her hand and a sword around her waist.

I used my self defense techniques and got my wrist out of her hold.

Before I could run she let her crossbow fall from her hand and dropped down beside me.

"Hey." She said.

I stared at her wide eyed.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." She said as she put her hands in the air.

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you want with me?"

She leaned down to pick up her crossbow and said nonchalantly, "I want to join an alliance with you. Careers are stupid, no point in joining their arrogance."

I narrowed my eyes further. "Why would you want me in an alliance?"

"You're quiet, you're small, and you're fast. That's why. Besides, if you can steal stuff, I can hunt. And I'll watch your back while you steal. I'm true to my word."

I thought about it. She seemed to be telling the truth. "Alright fine. What if I did join an alliance with you?"

"Then our plan would be simple. You go back to the careers, and get food and your weaponry, as I gather and hunt a little. You leave in the night, and make up some kind of excuse. I'll meet you in this area." She grinned and held out her hand.

She seemed true to her word. I nodded. "Fine. Deal." I said as I shook her hand.

She smirked. "It's a plan. I'll see you then."

I nodded. "If you're not here by sunrise, I'm going to to get the careers on your trail."

She nodded. "Ditto, if you're not here, you're dead in a few days, and I'll do it myself. I have perfect aim. That's a promise."

I nodded looking at her weapons. "Sounds fair."

"Alright, so what kind of weapons do you use?"

I pursed my lips. "Er... It's kinda hard to explain. I'll show it to you tonight. Anything I don't know about with your weapons?"

She smiled. "Crossbow, sword. Oh yeah, and my dagger." She lifted up her pant leg to show a dagger strapped to her shin.

I nodded. "Good to know. I'll try not to let you down."

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><p><strong>Good? Bad? Did you figure out which one my friend was? Whatever. I don't really care, as long as you review! I'm sorry I like haven't updated in forever! Please forgive me!<strong>


	16. You've Got to Be Kidding

**Oh my, it's been a while huh? Well I found the half finished chapter read through it, hated it, and deleted it and wrote this one instead. It's a little bit short, sorry about that, but I needed to get back into writing this story before I could do a really well written chapter you know? So this one isn't that great, it's more of a filler chapter, but hey, filler chapters are entertaining sometimes too right? Well if not then... Too bad!**

**Enjoy! I've missed this story.**

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><p><span>Jewel POV<span>

As I walk back to the careers camp, I pondered everything Rachel had suggested. Would she let me down? And if she did, what would I tell the careers? I'm pretty sure if I straight up said 'Yeah, there's this girl who I was talking to and I was going to join an alliance with her, but then she didn't show, can you help me kill her?' Wouldn't go over too well.

I suppose I just had to hope she shows.

I came out of the trees and sat on the log closest to the forest.

I added to the dying flame that was left of the fire I'd built, waiting until midnight so I could meet Rachel.

All of a sudden the anthem boomed and I looked to the sky to see the faces of the deceased.

The first face that showed, was Alexandra's. She looked happy in the picture. It must have been taken back in her district. Her picture was surrounded by a border of light blue, which must have been the color of her life link.

Next was David, who was also smiling. His color had been red.

After that was Penny. Her color was Pink.

I frowned. I had gotten to know Penny during training. She'd been the nicest of all of the tributes. She had even offered to join an alliance with me.

Before my thoughts could go any further, Cassidie's face turned up in the sky. Her picture was bordered with white.

Lorie was next. Her face was outlined in pink. She had been linked to Penny.

I sighed remembering her talkativeness. She'd been really nice in all.

Greg followed. His color had been white. That meant his life had been linked with Cassidie's.

Quincy was next. His color had been Light blue. He was linked with Alexandra.

Finally, there was Samantha. Her color was red. She'd been linked with David.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Kyle was still alive. That's all that mattered right now.

I sat by the fire for a few hours.

Eventually, Brenna put us all in shifts. I was with Oscar again.

We had first shift, so once everyone was asleep besides us, I stood up to leave.

"What are you doing eleven?" He said harshly grabbing my wrist.

"I'm just going to find water. I'll be back in an hour at most. Gosh." I lied easily.

Oscar narrowed his eyes obviously not believing me. "Nah, we'll find water together tomorrow. We're on watch, so watch." He said sternly.

I shrugged and tried my best to look indifferent. It must have been convincing because when I sat down by the embers of the fire, he had turned to look out at the forest.

All I could think about was Rachel, sitting there, all alone waiting for me. I wasn't going to make it to the pond, so she was going to try to kill me. She was now considered my enemy. You've got to be kidding me. I did not just make yet another enemy. As if Victoria wasn't bad enough.

I racked my brain for her link color. After what felt like hours, but was probably only minutes of thinking, I realized that she had covered her chips up. Strategy.

I almost groaned out loud when I realized this, but all in all, she was smart to do that. I mean, she had the element of surprise on her hands now.

I sighed and walked over to the supplies pile.

"What the h*** do you think you're doing?" Oscar spat at me.

I looked at him blankly. "Strategizing." I answered simply before grabbing my notebook from the bottom and realizing I'd left my pencil in the launch room. It had fallen out as I was making my way to the launch tube.

I closed my eyes for half a second when I realized this before turning to Oscar.

"Hey Oscar, you didn't happen to find a pencil while sorting through supplies did you?"

He looked at me like I was insane. "No, but why would you want a pencil?" He asked obviously confused.

I held up my notebook. This was my one chance to be snarky. Yes it was a bad idea to be snarky to someone like Oscar, but I figure I might as well try it. I'm dying anyways.

"Well in my district we usually use pencils to write. I don't know about district one though. You see, pencils have something called graphite in them which leaves a mark on the page and-" I started before he cut me off.

"I know what a pencil is." He growled as he stalked forward toward me.

I began to realize just how stupid I was to have done that, but it was too late to turn back now. "Oh alright, as long as we're on the same page." I shrugged.

He was totally furious now. I am so dead...

"Listen here short stack, I could kill you in an instant and you know it. The only reason I don't kill you is so that Brenna doesn't die, but if you keep talking to me like that, then maybe I can sacrifice her. So shut the f*** up."

We had a stare down. I was not going to let anyone treat me like that when I had days left to live. I've let people do that to me way too much in the past and that ends now.

Thankfully, someone decided they didn't want us killing each other and slowly, a silver parachute descended upon us.

Trent broke his glare away from me and opened it up. Too bad it was him to open it and not me though, because he instantly chucked it at me with great speed.

"It's for you." He stated simply.

I grabbed it and opened it up a second time to find that someone had sent me a pencil.

I sighed and took it to the knives to sharpen it before opening my notebook to the next blank page. Oscar was obviously interested in what I was going to do so he stalked over to me and looked over my shoulder as I sat down and began writing out the name of every tribute and all I could remember about them.

_Brenna: District One. Black chip._

_Oscar: District One. Purple Chip_

_Trent: District 2. Yellow Chip_

_Victoria: District 2. Knives. Gold Chip_

_Alexandra: District 3. Bloodbath. Light Blue Chip_

_David: District 3. Bloodbath. Red Chip_

_Zelda: District 4. Purple Chip._

_Xavier: District 4. Yellow Chip_

_Penny: District 5. Bloodbath. Pink Chip_

_Waldo: District 5._

_Cassidie: District 6. Good at plant recognition._

_Issac: District 6._

_Maria: District 7. Axe?_

_Herman: District 7. Axe?_

_Lorie: District 8. Bloodbath. Pink Chip_

_Greg: District 8. Bloodbath._

_Elise: District 9. Dramatic. Scavenger. Knife. No Strength. No aim._

_Quincy: District 9. Bloodbath._

_Rachel: District 10. Crossbow/swords._

_Nithaniel: District 10. Can use weapons pretty well._

_Jewel: District 11. Tessen._

_Kyle: District 11. Arrows._

_Samantha: District 12. Bloodbath. Red Chip._

_Fred: District 12. A little off..._

I looked back at Oscar. "What are all of your strengths and weaknesses?" I asked him bluntly, which is totally unlike me. This arena is definitely getting to me.

He sighed. "Brenna uses a sword but she's not strong. She has great precision though. I use a mace, I'm strong but I'm not super fast. Victoria used knives like you already said. She has amazing aim, but I doubt she can make a fire even with matches. Trent uses scythes. He's quick on his feet but he's not very smart. Xavier uses a trident and he's obviously strong and muscular. The thing about him is it's hard to get along with him. He's just not much of a people person. Zelda honestly gets on my nerves because she never shuts up, but she's good to have around because she has eyes like a hawk and uses spears really well." He told me.

I added all that and nodded. "Do you remember anything about anyone else?" I asked him.

He laughed. "Yeah right. Why would I pay attention to that?"

I shrugged. "Just checking."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Our watch is up anyways. I'm gonna pass out pretty soon. Let's wake up Zelda and Victoria. I'll get Zelda." He said and smirked.

I rolled my eyes. "Hah hah. Very funny. Whatever." I mumbled and packed up my journal and pencil.

I went into Victoria's tent and just unzipped it and poked my head in.

"Victoria. Your watch." I paused and waited for a reaction. There was none. "Victoria." I tried once more. No movement. "Victoria!" I said in a harsher whisper.

She bolted upright and flung a knife at me but as soon as I saw movement, I ducked. The knife moved fast though, so it missed by mere centimeters.

"God! You've got to be kidding me Victoria! Don't kill me yet! We still have a while before we get that far. God, it's your watch." I whisper yelled.

With that I stood up, brushed myself off and walked over to the tend we'd designated for me.

I passed by Oscar on the way.

"Thanks a lot." I mumbled.

He laughed softly. "What'd she do?" He smirked knowing exactly what I was talking about.

I rolled my eyes. "She just about killed me thank you very much. Threw a knife at my face. I ducked just in time and it missed by mere centimeters."

He turned to me and blinked. "You seriously got out of the way of one of her shots?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, as soon as she started moving I ducked. Had I waited until I saw the knife I would have been dead." I reasoned.

He nodded and we parted ways.

I got settled into my sleeping bag before putting my journal underneath the sleeping bag. I was not letting anyone take that from me. Ever.

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><p><strong>See what I mean? Not my best chapter. But it's not awful either. I've written worse, so it's all good.<strong>

**Review please. You can yell at me if you want or really anything. I honestly don't care and I know I totally deserve it... So yeah, let me know what you think! Please?  
><strong>


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